TTB - Romans Bible Companion

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R OM ANS
B I B L E CO M PA N I O N
EPISTLES
i
R EAD THIS FIRST
This Bible Companion is a summary of Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s teaching of

the book of Romans heard on THRU the BIBLE. These summarized lessons
get to the heart of Bible passages and are intended to stir your own
thinking, prayer, and study.
Begin with prayer. Dr. McGee said, “We are living in the day of the
ministry of the Holy Spirit, the day of grace, when the Spirit of God
takes the things of Christ and reveals them to us.” Before you start
each lesson, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as He is revealed
in that section. Dr. McGee said, “This is the secret of life and of
Christian living.”
As you study, read the Bible passage first. Invite God to open your
eyes and deepen your understanding of His Word. That’s a request
God loves to answer!
If you want to listen to Dr. McGee’s complete teaching on any

specific passage, go to TTB.org/Romans (or any book of the Bible).
The corresponding audio messages are listed at the top of the
summaries. You can also use this Bible Companion to follow along
and take notes while you listen to Dr. McGee teach a book of the
Bible on the radio or online.
After every lesson, several questions are listed for your

personal consideration or, if you’re reading this as a group,
for your discussion. Ask the Spirit to help you take to heart what
He wants to show you.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you

richly in all wisdom and teaching….
COLOSSIANS 3:16A
TABL E OF CONTENTS
LESSON 1 WHAT MAKES SALVATION GREAT......................................1
LESSON 2 HOW BAD IS IT?...............................................................8
LESSON 3 THE ONLY VERDICT...................................................... 14
LESSON 4 HOW TO STAND BEFORE GOD . . .................................22
LESSON 5 BLESSINGS FROM OUR FATHER............................... 28
LESSON 6 YOU STAND IN GRACE................................................ 34
LESSON 7 WHY DO I KEEP DOING THAT?................................. 42
LESSON 8 ALL THAT IS OURS IN CHRIST................................... 48
LESSON 9 ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD.......... 55
LESSON 10 WHAT ABOUT GOD’S PEOPLE, THE JEWS?........... 65

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LESSON 11 WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN TO ISRAEL?................73
LESSON 12 HOW SHOULD I THEN LIVE?...................................... 80
LESSON 13 SHOULD I OR SHOULDN’T I?..................................... 88
LESSON 14 THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL....................................... 96
LESSON 15 LOVE, PAUL................................................................... 102
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L E SSO N 1
WHAT M A K ES
SALVAT ION GREAT
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 1:1-13
Listen at TTB.org/Romans to Romans Introduction, Romans 1:1-4,

and Romans 1:3-13
You are about to spend time in one of the most important books of the
Bible. For many in every generation, God has used this book of Romans
to change thinking, deepen faith, and comfort hearts. It could be God will
use this study in your life to teach, comfort, convict, encourage, or stir
you towards a deeper faith in Him and greater effectiveness in living the
Christian life.
Before you dive in, ask Him to quiet your heart and awaken your mind to the
greatest subject of the ages: His great salvation. Invite Him to do whatever
work He wants to in your heart as you discover the depth of this amazing
gift. Every Christian should make every effort to know Romans, for this book
will ground the believer in the faith.
The book of Romans contains the great gospel manifesto for the world, but
the world doesn’t want to hear or accept it. It likes to hear about the glory
of mankind and exalt man instead of God. We must see mankind for who we
are: Totally corrupt, ruined creatures without God, helpless, and hopelessly
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lost. We must have the righteousness of God since we have none of our
own. The only remedy for our sin is the perfect remedy God provided in
Jesus Christ for a lost humanity.
This is the great message of Romans: God takes lost sinners—like us—and
He brings us into the family of God and makes us His children. He does it
not because we deserve it, but because Christ died on the cross. Romans
teaches this essential truth.
The apostle Paul opens this letter with a great statement and the key to
understanding:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of

God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and
also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
–Romans 1:16, 17
Paul is confident the gospel has inherent power for a specific thing:
Salvation. That is the end and the effect of the gospel. When you are saved,
it includes everything from justification to glorification; it is both an act and
a process. It is equally true that you have been saved, you are being saved,
and you will be saved.
You can’t work for or buy this righteousness from God; you only can accept
it by faith. Justification by faith means not only the subtraction of sin but the
addition of righteousness—all so you might stand before God complete in
Christ. God saves on no other ground than that you trust Jesus.
A B O UT THIS B OOK
God has used many ways to communicate with us in His Word. He gave
history, poetry, and prophecy. He gave the Gospels, and now we come to a
new section: The Epistles, the majority written by the apostle Paul. The Lord
speaks to us in each one of these very wonderful letters.
Paul identified himself to the Romans in the very beginning as a slave, or

doulos, of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took this position willingly. Paul said he
is also a “called apostle”—God called him. Technically, “apostle” in the New
Testament means one chosen by the Lord Jesus to declare the gospel as an
eyewitness of the resurrected Christ. Like an apostle, every believer should
be a witness, one sent forward with a message.
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Paul also said he was separated to the gospel of God. He was separated to
something, not from something. Like in a marriage when a spouse separates
themselves from all others to stand with their spouse alone, Paul said he was
leaving everything else behind to be devoted to Jesus. “Separated” is the
Greek word aphorizo, the same word as “horizon.” When you are separated
unto Christ, He enlarges your horizons.
This gospel Paul is sharing is God’s good news. Man didn’t create it; it was
originated by God. It existed way before us. We can take it or leave it. This
message of salvation was promised by God’s prophets all the way through the
Old Testament. The message is this: God loves mankind and has made a way
to save mankind. The gospel is all about Jesus Christ and what He has done.
This gospel is “concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (v. 3). “Concerning”
is the Greek preposition peri—used also in “periscope” and “perimeter”—and
means “that which encircles.” Draw a wide circle around Jesus and the gospel
is what goes inside. Paul identifies Jesus’ full title here: He is the Son of God,
and He is Jesus Christ our Lord. That is His wonderful name.
Jesus is also the seed of David, in His humanity. He is virgin-born because

He is declared—“horizoned” out to be—the Son of God with power.
He is also declared to be the Son of God “by the resurrection from the
dead.” The Resurrection proves everything. The Resurrection didn’t make
Him the Son of God, it simply revealed that He was. This is the picture of the
perfect humanity of Christ and the perfect deity of Christ. Jesus Christ is not
any more man because He is God, and He is not any less God because He is
man. He is God-man.
Then we learn another great truth. What is Jesus doing today? We see
Jesus Christ, resurrected and presently seated at the right hand of God in
the heavens, interceding right now for us, God’s children, giving us power
and comfort.
Jesus’ resurrection insures He will someday return to this earth as the Judge
and as the King of kings and Lord of lords. He will put down sin, and He will
reign on this earth in righteousness. The Resurrection guarantees each one
of us is going to face the Lord Jesus Christ. As a child of God, this is nothing
to be feared. Remember, the gospel brings us into a love relationship. God
loves us and gave Himself for us.
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What this future meeting does is prompt our obedience. Obedience to the
faith is very important to God. Although He saves us by faith and not by
works, after He has saved us, He wants to talk to us about our works, about
our obedience to Him.
Paul sums up the gospel: This message is from the risen Christ for everyone
in the world. First, come to Him and be saved, and then serve Him with faith
and obedience.
Initially, the book of Romans was written to the Christians in Rome. Paul
calls them “beloved of God” and “called to be saints” (v. 7)—these names
are ours, too, as followers of Jesus. A saint is one who exalts Jesus Christ.
A person becomes a saint when Jesus Christ becomes his Savior. There
are only two classes of people in the world: The saints and the ain’ts. If you
are not an ain’t, then you’re a saint. And if you are a saint, you have trusted
Christ. It is not your character that makes you a saint, it’s your faith in Jesus
Christ and the fact that you are set apart for Him.
Paul tells the Roman Christians that their faith was talked about all around
the whole world, and he is grateful for them and their godly reputation.
Word had filtered out throughout the empire that many in Rome were
turning to Christ—so much so that it disturbed the emperors. Later on,
persecution began.
Paul is praying for a “prosperous journey” (v. 10 kjv) to come to them in

Rome. When we read about his journey in the book of Acts, it doesn’t look
prosperous—he went as a prisoner, they endured weeks in a terrible storm
at sea, the ship was lost, they were shipwrecked, and he was bitten by a
poisonous snake. Yet it was a prosperous journey because God clearly led
him the whole way.
Paul wanted to come to Rome “in the will of God” to teach the Word of God.
He had led many of these Christians in Rome to Christ when he met them in
different parts of the Roman Empire, and now he wanted to see the fruit of
the Spirit in their lives.
If somebody else had founded the church in Rome, Paul would never have
gone there, he said. In essence, he’s the one who started the church there,
but he did so by remote, not in person. Paul had never been to Rome, no
apostle had, yet a church had been born. How did that happen?
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As Paul moved throughout the Roman Empire, he shared the gospel with
everyone who would listen. Hundreds of thousands of people were coming
to faith in Jesus Christ. Rome had a strong drawing power, and many people
in Rome met Paul out in the Roman Empire.
On his missionary journeys, Paul visited Roman colonies, such as Philippi

and Thessalonica, and there he saw Roman customs, laws, language, styles,
and culture on exhibit. He walked on Roman roads. He met Roman soldiers
on the highways and in the marketplaces, and he slept in Roman jails. Paul
had gone before Roman magistrates. He’d enjoyed the benefits of Roman
citizenship. Paul knew all about Rome, although he was yet to visit there.
From the vantage point of the world’s capital, he was to preach the global
gospel to a lost world, that God loved so much that He gave His Son to die
that whosoever believed on Jesus Christ might not perish, but have eternal
life (see John 3:16).
Rome was a great magnet, drawing men and women from the ends of the
then-known world to its center. As Paul and the other apostles crisscrossed
the colossal empire, they brought multitudes to the foot of the cross.
And like he did in every letter he wrote, Paul begins by wishing the reader,
God’s grace and peace (v. 7)—grace (charis), the Gentile’s greeting, and
peace (shalom), the Jewish greeting. Paul extends his double blessing on
everyone who will read this and then begins to teach.
NEXT: Your two options to know more about God.
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L E SSO N 1
FOR DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION
1. We are sinners who need God’s righteousness—how does He give it to us?
2. Romans teaches us that the gospel is both an act and a process.

What does that mean?
3. Explain what it means to be saved by Jesus. Careful not to use “Christian”

talk, but instead, pretend you’re talking to someone new to the Bible,
new to faith.
4. Romans calls us “slaves of Christ.” How does that make you feel?
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5. Why is Jesus’ resurrection so important to what we believe?
6. According to Romans, what does it take to become a saint?
7. The Apostle Paul took the gospel around the world. Where are you taking
the gospel? Who do you wish knew about Jesus’ offer of salvation?
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L E SSO N 2
HOW BA D
IS IT?
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 1:14-32
Listen at TTB.org/Romans to Romans 1:14-20 and Romans 1:21-32
Let’s get to know this man, Paul.
You can read his backstory in Acts 22, 24-26. Here in his letter to the
Romans, he tells them about his three “I ams.”
“I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians …” (v. 14). The world is

always dividing up people groups. First-century Greeks defined the world as
“us and everyone else.” Paul said no matter how it’s divided, he owed a debt
to every man because of all he has gained in Jesus Christ. He wants to share
all he’s been given in Christ. He owes it to everyone—especially the lost. As
the body of Christ today, not until every person has heard the gospel of
Jesus Christ have we paid our honest debt.
“I am ready …” (v. 15). Paul, having said he owed a debt, is now ready to pay
it. Sharing the gospel with others isn’t a burden or duty for him—instead,
he’s eager to give the good news to everyone who will listen. He’s got a
pastor’s heart—encouraging and warm to the saints and sinners alike.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel …” (v. 16-17). Why? Because the gospel
is God’s dunamis, His dynamite, to reach everyone, regardless of racial or
religious barriers. It’s a personal invitation, pleading with everyone who
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will come. These two verses summarize all of Romans: God offers to save
everyone worldwide who believes in the name of Jesus Christ. We can’t
come to God or have life any other way than by faith in Jesus. (See also
Philippians 3:9 and Habakkuk 2:4.) God saves you by faith, you live by faith,
you die by faith, and you’ll be in heaven by faith. To be “justified by faith”
means that a sinner who trusts Christ is not only pardoned because Jesus
died for him, but he also stands before God complete in Christ.
This invitation into the life and grace of God is important to get on the table
right now, because in the next section of Romans we’ll discover how God, in
His perfect righteousness, deals with our sin.
If you want to know how glorious salvation really is, you have to know how
bad sin is and how honest God’s anger is against it. The gospel hasn’t changed
God’s attitude toward sin, it just makes it possible to accept the sinner.
As a sinner, you know either the righteousness or the wrath of God. His
wrath is not His punishment of sin, it is His anger against it. Throughout the
whole Bible, God is constant and insistent in His anger against evil. He didn’t
change between the two testaments. God’s mercy is just more evident in
the New Testament, not because He is lenient with the sinner, but because
Christ died for him.
God hates all ungodliness—anything that denies His character and shows
man’s neglect and rebellion against God. Just imagine how He feels about
those who deny He even exists. God also hates man’s “unrighteousness”
against his fellow man. He hates it when right is held down and truth is cast
off like litter. Why? Because He has shown up and shown us who He is, and
we have looked the other way.
Our universe tells us two things about God: His person and His power. Since
the world was created, these two invisible things can be seen. Just look
around—creation is a clear light of revelation, revealing the unchangeable
power and existence of God. (See Psalm 8:3, 19:1, and Acts 14:17.)
Even if we don’t admit it, we have an instinctual knowledge of God. To deny

He exists is literally insane, illogical, and senseless. Behind a façade of wisdom,
mankind become fools when they say God doesn’t exist. (See Psalm 14:1—the
word for “fool” means “insane.”) Creation so clearly reveals God that man
is without excuse. Those who deny God’s existence and power do so not
through ignorance, but by willful rebellion in the presence of clear light.
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Mankind is not getting any better, contrary to what evolutionists say.

The pull is downward, away from God, physically, morally, intellectually, or
spiritually. In fact, look at Romans 1:21-23 carefully for the seven steps we’ve
taken downward since the Garden of Eden.
Even though mankind knew God:
• ”They did not glorify [God].” They didn’t give Him His rightful place and
became self-sufficient. We say we don’t need God.
• ”Nor were thankful.” Ingratitude pervades our thinking and

relationships.
• “Became futile [vain] in their thoughts.” We even concocted a theory of

evolution—any way to get around our responsibility before God.
• “Their foolish hearts were darkened.” We moved into the darkness of

our own hearts as our religion.
• “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” The wisdom of man is

foolishness with God. Man searches for truth through logical reasoning,
but arrives at a philosophy that is foolish in God’s sight.
• “And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like
corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”
They turned God’s glory into a cartoon and traded the magnificence of
God into cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.
… And we’ve been spiraling ever since. The only practical thing for us to do
is to return to the living and true God.
Because mankind has revolted against God, Romans 1:24-32 says three times
that God gives them up, literally God hands them over—it is a positive, not a
passive, attitude. If that’s what you want, then here you go.
Mankind’s downward spiral can be specifically measured by our perversion of

sex. Idolatry and gross immorality are the bitter fruits of rejecting what God
has said about Himself. Passions of dishonor and disgrace and depravity all
speak of godlessness—regardless of what public opinion is today.
No one can be a child of God and live in the thick mire of our contemporary
perversion and permissiveness. But if anyone comes to Christ, He will lead
them out of this sin.
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All this revelation about God does not meet with public support. Mankind
has heard from God but flagrantly flaunts God’s Word by defying His
judgment against such sins. Sound familiar?
Just watch the news and you’ll see evidence of Romans 1 everywhere:
Rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious political backstabbing, envy,
reckless killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: Gossips, the mean-
spirited, venomous, slanderers, and liars. Bullies, swaggerers, the arrogant,
disobedient, and unloving. People keep inventing new ways of wrecking
lives. (See Romans 1:24-29.) And it’s not as if they don’t know better.
Mankind knows perfectly well; they’re just stiffening their necks against God.
The book of Romans reveals the tragic helplessness of the human race. No
other book of the Bible looks so fearlessly at the spiral of human sin. And
we’re not done yet.
But before you let this debauchery depress you too much, know that the
best, most wonderful news you ever heard is coming. But before that
redemption can be appreciated in all its fullness, you need to be convinced
that we’re lost without the Lord.
Stay with us.
NEXT: Would God ever ask me to pay for my own salvation?
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L E SSO N 2
1. How does Paul’s attitude of being indebted to all people compare to your
perspective on others?
2. What are some of the benefits of faith in Jesus Christ?
3. The Bible says creation reveals God to us. If plants or animals could talk,
what do you think they’d tell us about God?
4. Does Romans portray a world getting better or worse? How does it

describe that world?
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5. There is no sin from which God cannot save you. So why do we often feel
like our sins are too much for God?
6. How should we expect the world around us to react when we live as

God’s children and not as they live?
7. Why was it important for Paul to tell us about God’s revelation in nature
before showing us how bleak the state of humanity is?
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L E SSO N 3
THE ON LY
VE R DICT
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 2:1—3:20
Listen at TTB.org/Romans to Romans 2:1-22, Romans 2:21—3:9,

and Romans 3:5-22
Religious people, self-righteous people, and so-called good people all need
a Savior. You may be someone who tries hard to be good, and you’re likely
very nice. Or maybe you’re religious and follow a strict code of behavior
and requirements. You can be kind and you can be religious, but without a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you’re lost.
In Romans 1, we see how desperately people need a Savior. They need

deliverance from all kinds of perversion and immorality. But in God’s sight,
the “good” person’s sin is just as awful as the depraved acts that offend the
culturally refined sinner. When we judge someone else’s sin, we immediately
establish the principle that whoever is above us can judge us also for not
measuring up to their standards. Call the abuser or the pedophile’s sin
abhorrent, and God in His position as He looks down at you—a so-called
respectable person—says, “You’re a sinner, and come short of My glory. You,
in My sight, are just as much a sinner as that person is in your sight.”
To reject Jesus as the Son of God immediately puts you under God’s
judgment, and the only verdict is guilty. (See 1 John 5:12, John 3:36, 5:24,
and the marvelous John 3:16-18.)
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Wait! What about “God is love”? That’s the God I follow. Yes, you’re right.
God is love, but until you do something with the love He offers you in Jesus
Christ, His position toward you is one of wrath toward your sin (see Romans
5:8). God is the same throughout the whole Bible. He is loving and just, and
His attitude toward sin has never changed.
If you reject God’s way through Jesus Christ, the only option you have is to
pay for your salvation yourself. If you do that, here are six principles God will
apply when He judges you:
1. God knows the real you (2:2). God will judge according to the facts.
He knows your heart better than you do. He doesn’t grade sin on a
curve—with someone getting an A and someone getting an F. We’re all
sinners.
2. Our lives will be scrutinized (2:6). At the Great White Throne, God will
judge people according to what they’ve done. His books will open, and
every sinner’s life will be scrutinized.
3. We’re all judged by the same standard (2:11). You might be well
educated and raised in a good home, but you have no advantage over
some illiterate person living in dire circumstances. God will judge you
both by the same standard. This is not for salvation, but for judgment.
4. Our best will never be good enough (2:13). You like the Sermon on the
Mount and the Ten Commandments. Do you keep them? The answer
is no, no one can. No one measures up to them. Every honest person
knows he comes short of the glory of God.
5. We all fall short; we miss the mark (2:15). Your conscience either
excuses or accuses you. When you say, “Well, I’m doing the best I can;
I’m only human,” you’re excusing yourself. We are human, and that is
the reason we fall short.
6. There will be no secrets at the judgment (2:16). That part of your life
you have kept hidden, God will bring out—provided you do not come
and accept His salvation now. If you turn down God’s salvation, you will
face Him on this matter, and these six principles outline the way He will
judge so-called good people.
Wouldn’t you rather Jesus stand up for you in court, offer His nail-printed
hands, and say, “These debts have been paid. I died in your place.”
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The saint with the most tender conscience today is more aware of sin than
anyone else. If you’re not conscious of sin in your life, you are in a dangerous
place. You’re like a man in an ice storm who thinks he’s comfortable but is
actually freezing to death. He wants to lie down in the snow and sleep, but if
he does, he will die. Many people today live like this—numb, unconscious to
the fact they are sinners in God’s sight.
Some think they will escape judgment because they are religious. Of course,
Jewish people illustrate this for the simple reason they had the only God-
given faith (2:17-18). Paul asks them, You’ve taught the Law and boasted in
the Law—but have you lived up to the Law? No, no one can. The tragedy
of the half-truth that being moral and ethical is enough is that it’s not. God
finds the religious person the most difficult in the world to reach. Church
members are the hardest people to lead to Christ.
For the Jew, circumcision was the badge of the Mosaic system—but that’s
all it was. It said that man believed the Law. But when they broke God’s
Law, their badge became worthless. That which should have been sacred
became profane.
This thought can be applied to our church ceremonies. Water baptism is

rightly a sacred thing, if it is the outward expression of a work God has
done in your heart. But it’s a mockery if the person who is baptized gives
no evidence of salvation. Same is true for church membership. The symbol
should stand for something.
Any rite or ritual you go through is meaningless for your salvation. God
doesn’t ask you to join anything or do anything. What God asks the lost
sinner to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and they will be saved.
Until a person answers that question, God hasn’t anything else to say to
him. (After he’s saved, then God will probably talk to him about church
membership and baptism.)
Some may ask, “Well, doesn’t my church, my creed, my membership, my

baptism help toward my salvation?” The answer is no. But if you are saved,
these things help communicate to the world who you are. Unless you are
trusting Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, then instead of your church
membership or good deeds being a sacred thing, they become disrespectful
and worthless, at best.
Yes, Jews have an advantage, Paul said. But with it comes a responsibility.
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God gave the nation Israel the opportunity to share the Word of God. This is
important: Israel is not the shadow fulfilled and absorbed in the church, but
the basis on which the church rests. God has a future for Israel.
Will Israel’s lack of faith cancel out God’s faithfulness? The Jew failed; doesn’t
that mean God failed? No. God’s promise to send Israel the Redeemer was
not defeated by their willful disobedience and rejection. All His promises for
Israel’s future will be fulfilled to God’s glory in spite of their unbelief. Think
about what this means to you. Aren’t you glad God’s promises to you don’t
depend on your faithfulness? Thank God for His faithfulness!
All God’s promises, whether to the Jew or to the world, are found in the same
Word of God. God will make good on John 3:16 to us just as He will make
good on His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12. God’s faithfulness is true
and won’t change. How bad is it not to believe God gave His Son to die for
you? Well, when you reject His Son, you call God a liar (see 1 John 5:10).
The Bible holds up a mirror to people who thought they knew God. Some
realized they were sinners, lost before God, and turned to Him and were
rescued. Others turned away from God but still claimed to be religious. All of
us, even those who shake their fist at God, believe some people ought to be
judged. Now, you may not think you ought to be, but you believe somebody
ought to be judged. God has put within us an innate need for justice.
Few things sound more ominous than a judge striking his gavel, announcing
the verdict of “guilty.” In this section, mankind stands before the judge of
all the earth, and the verdict of “guilty” resounds against every one of us. It
makes no difference who we are; if we belong to the human race, we stand
guilty before God.
After the courtroom where we have six charges brought against us, we then
visit God’s clinic where the Great Physician looks at eight other critical issues.
Paul starts the case with the conclusion: We’re all under sin (3:9). Under sin
says we are sinners by our actions, by our nature, and as a human family.
The first charge God makes about us is: No one is right with Him (3:10).
He doesn’t force anyone to be right with Him, but He offers a gift you can
turn down. God says, “This is My universe. You’re living on My little world,
using My sunshine and My water and My air, and I have worked out a plan of
salvation that is true to My character and My nature. My plan is the one that’s
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going to be carried out. You’re a sinner, and I want to save you because I love
you. Now here it is. Take it or leave it.” That’s what God says to a lost world
and to each of us individually. To be right with God, then, means to accept
His salvation.
The second charge is this: No one seeks after God (3:11).
The third charge: God isn’t playing hide-and-seek with us. He has revealed
Himself, out in the open telling us our problem and offering a solution (3:11).
The fourth charge: Mankind is detoured; we left the way we knew was right,
and we know it (3:12).
The fifth charge is: We’ve gotten spoiled, overripe, sour (3:12).
The sixth charge is: Mankind is like a group of travelers who have gone in the
opposite direction from the right one, and not one can help the others (3:12).
Now Paul transfers us over to God’s clinic and into the hands of the Great
Physician who says we are spiritually sick (3:13-20). First He tells us to stick
out our tongues and say, “Ah,” and to that God says we smell like an open
grave—rotten. Our tongues are vicious and mean. Our mouths are full of
bitterness. Our feet run fast to evil. And we know nothing about peace. And
to sum it up, Paul says mankind has no fear of God. We’re living as if God
does not exist, and yet we shake our fist at Him in defiance.
Had enough of the bad news?
Between Romans 3:20 and Romans 3:21 there is a “Grand Canyon” division.
Just when we have all the talk of sin that we can take, God will tell us what it
means to be saved by faith.
Stay with us.
NEXT: When will God not save you?
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L E SSO N 3
1. How can God be love if He is also wrathful toward sinners?
2. What role did God design our consciences to play in our lives?
3. If the primary purpose of water baptism is as a symbol, what does

it symbolize?
4. What does God’s faithfulness, in spite of Israel’s unfaithfulness, teach us

about God?
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5. If the Bible is like a mirror that shows us our true selves, what do you see
in its reflection?
6. Romans pictures God as a judge, and all humanity has been declared
guilty. How then can someone become innocent?
7. If you were Paul, would you have begun your letter to the Romans with
so much bad news about the state of humanity before you got to the
good news? Why do you think he spent so much time on sin and its
consequences at the beginning of this letter?
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L E SSO N 4
HOW TO S TA ND
BE FOR E GOD
Begin with prayer
Listen at TTB.org/Romans to Romans 3:5-22, Romans 3:22-31, and Romans 4
In a court of justice, only after every defense has failed and the law itself has
been shown to be broken, is an appeal made to the judge for mercy. That’s
where we stand today: In need of God’s grace and mercy. We are spiritually
helpless and without hope, paralyzed and unable to save ourselves.
So how can God save us? There’s only one way: Through His righteousness,
through the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. God has provided a way to
stand before Him in grace, and it’s only through Jesus (John 14:6). We can’t
save ourselves; no religion can save; no church can save. We can’t escape
a sinful past and hopeless future on our own, but the righteousness God
demands, God also provides. He is willing to give us the glorious life He has
always wanted for us. He extends it as a gift. He offers us Jesus Christ.
WHAT D O E S IT LO OK LI KE
TO B E JUSTIF IE D BY FAI TH?
Here’s what Romans 4:5 says about believing God.
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the
ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
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But to him who believes… “Oh, but I ought to do something.”
But to him who believes… “Well, shouldn’t I join the church and be baptized?”
But to him who believes… “Shouldn’t I promise God I’ll live a better life?”
But to him who believes… “But don’t you think I ought to offer God something?”
But to him who believes… “I’m happy to work for my salvation.”
Look back at that verse—who does God justify? The good people? No. God
justifies the “ungodly,” the worst kind. The only people God saves is ungodly
people; He’s never yet saved a good person. Not only has God never saved
a good person, He never will. Do you know why? Because no one is good.
Every one of us is ungodly.
The Lord Jesus says, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners,
to repentance” (Luke 5:32). He came to “give His life a ransom for many”
(Matthew 20:28). Why did Jesus come? To pay the ransom demands for an
ungodly people.
Please take this to heart: Until you come as a sinner to God, He cannot save
you. He is in the business of only saving sinners. Many people defend their
dignity and status rather than let God save them. But when you come to
Him, you have to come as the sinner you are. He only saves ungodly people.
This is not a popular concept today because people don’t want to hear they
are sinners. But that’s what we are. And that’s good, because God saves
sinners. He doesn’t save those who just are weak or make mistakes. No, it’s sin
Jesus paid for. When we come on His terms alone—because Jesus paid our
debt for us—we receive His grace and mercy. He welcomes sinners like us.
This salvation by faith is a gift. You don’t work for a gift; you can’t pay for a
gift; you can’t promise God anything. If you are going to receive His gift, you
must reach out your hand in faith and receive what He offers.
That gift comes through Jesus’ death on the cross, what He did for us in our
place. Why did it have to come to this? Because none of us measure up. We
can all jump off the dock, but none of us are going to land on the island in the
middle of the lake. Some may jump farther, but everyone comes up short.
What God does for us, He does by His grace; what God does by His grace,
He does joyfully. He does it freely, literally, without a cause, and without
holding back. God doesn’t parcel out grace as if He might run out of
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His supply. When He gives you grace, He goes the limit. He is not stingy.
Nothing beautiful in us calls out the grace of God, other than our great need.
It’s Jesus’ gift that’s beautiful. So when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ,
you can exchange the guilt of your sins for the riches of His grace.
This gift comes by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith on its own doesn’t
save you, it’s who you’re putting that faith in—it’s Jesus Christ who saves
you by the blood He shed on the cross as He took your place. Without the
blood of Christ, we have no other hope. God has always had only one way
of saving sinners, and that is through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Everyone
God saved in the Old Testament, He saved on credit. He did not save them
because they brought a little lamb. The blood of lambs pointed to the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ died on the cross, He paid to
redeem those who lived in the past, too. On this side of the Cross we don’t
bring a sacrifice, but we are to trust in Christ and His blood.
God has set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. Jesus
is “the mercy seat” between us and a holy God. How wonderful to know God
looks on Jesus’ blood and pardons us. In joy, with satisfaction and delight in
Jesus, God holds out mercy to a guilty world.
As an example of this grace and mercy apart from anything else, Paul
describes God’s work in the lives of Old Testament heroes, Abraham and
David. They were in the same boat as all of us. Abraham, the founder of the
nation Israel, and David, their greatest king, were desperate sinners, lost
without God—but they were saved by faith alone.
A B O UT A B R A H AM
The nation Israel began with Abraham, but he stood on the same ground
as the weakest sinner stands. God promised Abraham his family lineage
would be numbered like the stars, even when his wife was barren. But
Abraham simply believed God, and God credited that confidence for
righteousness. When God saves us, He not only subtracts our sins, but He
adds the righteousness of Christ that allows us to stand in His presence.
(See Romans 4:3 and Genesis 15:6). Abraham believed God told the truth,
then he rested completely on Him and worshipped Him. This left God free
to fulfill that promise.
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A B O UT DAVID
The Old Testament makes it very clear King David deliberately broke the
Law. He knew what he did. Even so, David confessed his sin to God and God
forgave him, accepted him, and saved him by faith.
Sometimes a judge may under certain circumstances remit sins. But David’s
forgiveness speaks of the tenderness of God by taking the sinner into His
loving arms and receiving him with affection. His sins are covered. How?
Because Jesus Christ died and shed His blood. Blessed is this person whose
sin God doesn’t count against him (see Romans 4:8).
Today, when we admit we’re sinners, come to God, and trust Jesus as our
Savior—regardless of who or how or when we are—God will save us. God
holds us accountable today on one basis alone: His question is, What will
you do with My Son who died for you on the cross?
NEXT: Heaven waits for those who trust Jesus—

but what do we get here and now?
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L E SSO N 4
1. Why do we need mercy? And what does it tell us about God that He gives
it to us?
2. No one deserves justification, and yet God freely gives it to us. How should
that impact how we view ourselves?
3. Why do you think people don’t like to be called or thought of as sinners?
4. Coming to Jesus means exchanging the guilt of our sins for the riches of
His grace. What are some of the reasons people still might be hesitant to
come to Christ?
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5. What kind of a response should knowing that Jesus was our substitute
prompt in us?
6. If you had been in Abraham’s place, do you think it would have been easy
or difficult to believe in God and His words?
7. How can King David’s sons serve as a reminder to us that salvation can
only be received as a free gift?
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L E SSO N 5
BL E S S INGS F R OM
O U R FATHER
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 5
We’ve traveled a heavy road so far in Romans, but now the sin question has
been settled. We will not come before God for judgment because of the
redemption Jesus Christ purchased for us at tremendous price on the cross.
What He did for us delivers us from the penalty of sin. An eternal home with
Jesus waits for all who trust Him.
But what about here and now?
What benefits do we as Christians gain right now in our new life in Christ?
Well, there’s a long list of them! Actually, even the world pays a lot of money
and attention to get these benefits that freely come to us with our salvation.
(We don’t always enjoy all of them—but that’s our issue.) God has put these
on the table for you, and all you have to do is reach over and take them (see
Ephesians 1:3).
Being justified by faith produces wonderful results in our lives. As a believer

in Jesus Christ, you now possess these eight things:
1. Peace with God (v. 1)—“Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
comes to your soul when you trust Christ as Savior and when you are
certain God no longer has any charge against you. God is for you;
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your salvation is permanent and eternal. Your sins are forgiven, and
everything is right between you and God. That brings unexplainable
peace, beyond our understanding but still real. (See Philippians 4:7.)
2. Access to God (v. 2a)—As God’s child, you have access to a heavenly
Father who listens to you. It is wonderful having someone to go to
and talk with about your problems. He always hears and answers, and
sometimes He shows He is a good Father by saying “no.” He answers
according to His wisdom, not according to our will. We have access by
faith into this grace we now stand in.
3. Hope (v. 2b)—As God’s children, we look forward to Jesus coming back
to this earth (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). He’s coming soon to take His
church out of this world. That’s a glorious hope, and it will take place at
His appearing. This hope means we have a future—something to look
forward to. The child of God has a blessed hope. And we know all things
are going to work together for good (8:28). We know nothing is going to
separate us from the love of God (8:39). What a wonderful hope!
4. Triumph in trouble (vv. 3, 4)—Paul tells us to rejoice in our hardships,

knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces patient
endurance; and endurance, proven character (spiritual maturity); and
proven character, hope and confident assurance of eternal salvation.
It takes trouble to bring out the best in the believer’s life. The only
way God can get fruit out of the life of the believer is by pruning the
branches. The world does it differently. The world never combines
“affliction” and “joy,” but the child of God can be confident God’s
discipline is under God’s control for our good and God’s glory.
5. Love (v. 5)—What kind of love is this? Love for our fellow man? No—
that’s elsewhere. Love for God? No. This love poured in us is the
assurance that God loves us. These are desperate days, and you need
to know God loves you. You can’t keep God from loving you. You can
put yourself in a place where you don’t experience His love—like you
can’t keep the sun from shining, but you can shut yourself in a dark
room. You can put up an umbrella of sin, of indifference, of stepping
out of the will of God, which will keep His love from shining on you.
But He will never stop loving you. (Read that last sentence again.)
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6. The Holy Spirit (v. 5)—The Holy Spirit is the One who, among other
things, makes the love of God real in the hearts of believers. To get
through these days on earth, you need to be very conscious of the fact
that God loves you. And if you listen, you’ll hear the Holy Spirit telling
you how much He does. Go ahead, ask Him.
7. Deliverance from wrath (v. 9)—What is this future wrath from which we
will be saved? Jesus calls it the Great Tribulation. Believers have been
saved from the penalty of sin; He is constantly saving us from the power
of sin; and He is going to save us in the future from the presence of sin.
This means every believer will leave this earth at the Rapture. We are
saved from wrath through Christ; we live by the grace of God; and by the
grace of God, ten billion years from today we will still be in heaven.
8. Joy (v. 11)—We joy in God—what a wonderful truth from Scripture!

Right now, whatever your problems are, you can have joy in God.
You can have joy in Him that He lives and is all He says He is. You can
rejoice because He is willing to save you even though you’re a sinner.
And someday, He will bring you into His presence. God has worked out
a plan to save us because He loves us.
Be happy today in God for these wonderful benefits of salvation. And God
wants to do even more for His children …
WHAT D O E S IT LO OK LI KE
TO GR OW IN C HRI ST?
First God saves the sinner. In God’s holy court a sinner is declared righteous
but, really, his heart hasn’t been changed. We’re the same as we were. But
God doesn’t intend to leave us like this—He wants to make us the people we
should be. His method, of course, is through the power of His Holy Spirit.
And it unpacks as a process.
Romans 5:12 says that “just as through one man sin entered the world, and
death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
We’ve seen the dreaded result of what started in the Garden of Eden
when Adam disobeyed God. His sin became our sin. Adam’s decision is our
decision, whether we like it or not.
Adam acted for the human race. Remember, we’re sinners because we
sin, and because it’s our nature, and because we are in a family of sinners.
Adam’s one act of disobedience plunged his entire offspring into sin. We are
all made sinners by Adam’s sin.
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But this was God’s plan so that He might turn it all around when He justifies
us by faith. Now He can take us out of the old Adam and put us in the new
Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is how God sanctifies us today, always
by faith. Just as through one man sin entered and spread to the world, so
through one Redeemer we can be declared righteous and made into a new
creation, a new race, and a new redeemed person. “For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21).
One transgression plunged the race into sin; but one act of obedience and the
death of Christ upon the cross makes it possible for lost man to be saved.
But not only that, we have much more in Christ than we lost in Adam.
Today we look forward to something more wonderful than the Garden of
Eden. Jesus provides a breathtaking life ahead for those who receive His
gift of life.
Death once ruled us because of one man who committed only one offense,
but Jesus has established another kingdom that is far superior to the
kingdom of death—it is the kingdom of life. And it’s offered to us through
the superabundance of grace—we have only to receive it. The King of the
kingdom of life is Jesus Christ, and the gift comes through His hand. God is
calling out a people for Himself and offers salvation to a lost race.
All the requirements of God’s righteousness are fully met in Jesus’ death.
The kingdom is fully and firmly established on His cross. All other ground is
sinking sand. The believing sinner now has eternal life by being united to the
last Adam, the raised and glorified Savior. Jesus is head of the saved human
family and brings us life and righteousness. He removes our guilt of sin. And
on that basis, He can move into the lives of those who trust Him and begin
to make them righteous. That is, He can begin to make them good.
God’s work in our hearts makes it possible for us to grow in the grace of our
Lord Jesus, which we’ll study next.
NEXT: Sin’s pull on us is so strong …

what should we do to get victory?
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L E SSO N 5
1. What is the difference between having the benefits of salvation and
actually enjoying the benefits of salvation?
2. How do God’s promises for the future give us hope in troubles right now?
3. Why is endurance such an important trait for a believer to develop? What

does God use to develop endurance in our lives?
4. If we know from Romans that God will never stop loving us, why do we still
feel like He will sometimes?
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5. How can you have joy in whatever you are facing?
6. God will change us, but He will do so through a process dependent on the
Holy Spirit’s power. How should understanding that change our thinking?
7. Paul uses ideas like “kingdom” and “family” to describe God’s truth. If you
were writing Romans today, what concepts would you use to describe
these truths?
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L E SSO N 6
YO U S TAN D
IN GR AC E
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 6
Take a deep breath and thank God for His amazing grace. If you have
received His gift of salvation, then you have been rescued from sin and
death and you stand in grace.
Now God wants you to grow in that grace so it pervades everything about you.
God is both an exterior and interior decorator. He is an exterior decorator

in that He enables us to stand before Him, because He has paid the penalty
and removed the guilt of sin from us. But He is also an interior decorator
who moves into our hearts and lives by the power of the Holy Spirit to
make us the kind of Christians we should be. Once He saves us from sin, He
doesn’t leave us there.
Let’s talk about how that happens.
We’ve just described two big Bible words, justification and sanctification.
Justification describes being saved from sin and sanctification describes
being changed into the people God envisions us to be because we are His
and His alone.
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Justification is an act; sanctification is a work.
Justification took place the moment you trusted Christ—you were

declared righteous; the guilt was removed. Then God began a work of
sanctification in you that will continue throughout your life.
You were instantaneous saved, but it will take a lifetime to be sanctified.
Justification is how and why this is happening; sanctification is the result.
Justification is for us; sanctification is in us.
Justification says you, the sinner, are righteous; sanctification makes

you righteous.
Justification removes the guilt and penalty of sin; sanctification

removes the pervasive power of sin.
Both justification and sanctification flow from being in Christ, crucified and
risen. By faith, we seize Christ as our own for our salvation and for growing
deeper and more personally in His life.
Behind us in our study, we’ve talked about how a sinner gets saved. Going
forward we will see how God makes us, sinners, into His children and how
we grow up to look like Him.
In our old nature, we were slaves to sin, but as believers, our new nature
wants to obey God. He is now our Lord and Master. He gives us freedom to
do what is best.
With all this in mind, imagine what an insult it is to hear Paul ask in Romans
6:1, So if grace is so great, maybe we should sin more so we’ll experience
more grace?
What? Are you crazy? We remember all too well what a life controlled by sin
feels like, and now you’re suggesting we go back there?
Paul is being a bit argumentative. “What shall we say then?” is a Greek

question asked when there is only one logical answer.
After you peek into God’s amazing salvation, there’s only one answer, and
it’s not “let’s continue in sin.” No, the right answer is, of course, How could
we ever go back? “Certainly not,” Paul says—or literally, “May it never be!”
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How could we who are saved by grace continue living like we used to? And
if you think you can, then maybe you’re not saved. Now’s the time to make
certain. God’s Word is clear—your new nature means a new life.
Even though the guilt of your past life has been removed, the power of sin is
still strong. We have died to sin in Christ, but we are never dead to it as long
as we are breathing. It’s like a dead weight we drag around with us. We want
to live for God, but we need God’s power to live out the reality that we’re
dead to sin.
We have to see ourselves as in Christ. Identified with Him in His death. This
concept is pictured in the Greek word, baptiz. When something is immersed
in water, it is swallowed up by it and comes up new.
So, how does God make a sinner a changed person? First, He gives us a new
nature. Then He shows us how we died with Christ, were buried with Him,
and then raised with Him. (See how important Jesus’ death and resurrection
continue to be?) That is truth, and now we need to learn how to count on
that truth to change the way we live—now by faith. We have trusted Him for
salvation, and now we trust Him in our daily living. This is what it means to
live by faith.
Living by faith means we take several truths to heart.
1. We know something. (v. 3) Like every gadget that needs assembling,

living the Christian life comes with instructions. You have to know that
when Jesus Christ died, you were there with Him. You were the one
who was guilty—He wasn’t. Your sin put Him up there on that cross.
Now picture pulling something under water. Just like that, we died with
Him. You have to know that the judgment on our sin was fully made,
the penalty fully paid. Our debt was swallowed up in His death.
2. Then we identify with something. (vv. 4-8) When Christ died, you died.
When He was raised from the dead, you were raised from the dead so
that now you answer to a new head of the human race, the Lord Jesus
Christ. You are no longer a slave to sin.
You were with Christ in His death, and now you are with Him when He
rose again. You are joined today to a living Christ. The Resurrection
opens up eternity to Christ, and it opens eternity to those who are in
Him. Jesus is alive today. He lives to intercede for those who are His—you.
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Because of this, He can save you to the utmost, to the ultimate extreme.
Your sins have been judged, your death has been accomplished, you
are raised with Jesus when He conquered death, and now you are with
Him in the heavenlies. Your position is settled.
That’s what it means to identify with Christ. You are vitally connected
to Him, like a limb grafted into a tree shares the life of the tree. The life
of Christ is your life now.
3. Now count on something. (v. 11) “Reckon”—that is, count on the fact—
that you are dead to sin and alive unto God. The sin factory that once
bossed you around has been put out of business. Think on this: There
are only two places for your sins. Either you trusted Christ to pay for
them when He died for you, or you still carry them today and judgment
is ahead for you. You don’t share the burden of your sin. If you are in
Christ, then He took care of it. You can count on it. You no longer have
to live in the grip of your old nature. You don’t have to listen to your old
self talking.
F I NA LLY, YIE L D YO UR SELF TO GOD

We get into trouble when we listen to our old self talking. Instead of giving
back the ground Jesus already won for you, you can present yourself to
God. A willing servant. I’ll do whatever you want, Lord.
Just like you once yielded yourself to sin—how easy that was!—now you
yield yourself to God as someone who is alive from the dead. You’re now
alive in Christ. You have a new nature. You’ve been born again.
Jesus asks you to yield specific things to Him, things that are your
“members as instruments of righteousness to God.” Think about that
specific something, that sin that nips at your heels. Yield that to Him. A bad
temper? Take that to Him. A gossipy tongue? Talk to Him about it. Sexual
immorality? Present yourself to God—body and soul. You can do it when the
Holy Spirit has your permission. Your new nature can choose to obey God;
you even want to. You’re done with your “I’ll do it my way” attitude.
This is all God’s method of changing you. You step into this process by
faith—faith that God can do it. You can’t do it (He never said you could).
When you finally learn you can’t live the Christian life, you have learned a
great lesson. Only then will you let Him live it through you.
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Don’t you know that everyone serves someone or something? This is really
so practical. Whoever you listen to—that is your master. If every time your
favorite sin pops up you say “yes” to it, then it is your master and you follow
it naturally.
But you are also free to live for Jesus Christ and say “yes” to Him. That’s
your new nature talking. You might be just as weak as you were before and
unable to resist sin, but now you can, by faith, live in the power of the Holy
Spirit. Only the Spirit of God can produce the Christian life in us, as we’re
going to see. The inclination to sin is still strong, but in His strength, you can
live for God, you can live a holy life.
Some people don’t like to think of themselves as slaves to anything,

especially sin. But whatever you let control you, you are a servant to. When
sin was your master, you did as you pleased. Sounds like real freedom, right?
Wrong. Your old life was an evil master. You’re ashamed of it now. But now
as a slave to God, you are freed from its control that leads to death. You are
whole—with more life on the way that will last for eternity.
Sin always demands more. You never can pay enough. But God’s gift is real
life that you live by faith. You are saved by faith. You are to walk moment by
moment by faith. You cannot live for God by yourself any more than you can
save yourself. Depend on Him as your next breath. Look to the Lord Jesus
Christ by the power of the Spirit. He will help you, if you ask.
NEXT: Help for the many times you’ve asked,

“Why do I keep doing that?”
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L E SSO N 6
1. What is the difference between justification and sanctification?
2. Why would Paul consider it necessary to ask the Roman Christians if they
wanted to continue in sin?
3. If we are dead to sin, why do we need God’s power to live like we are dead
to sin?
4. Why is having a new nature so important to living for God?
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5. How should the realization that believers are “in Christ” affect how we
think about ourselves?
6. A person yielded to God can be used by God. Dream for a minute: What are
some things God could do with a person, like you, who is yielded to Him?
7. Who are some people you know who live by their new natures? What do
you see in their lives that, through God’s power, you can emulate?
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L E SSO N 7
WHY DO I K EEP
DOING T HAT?
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 7
If you’ve ever failed at something, especially something you really value,

you know that frustrated, sick feeling of not measuring up. Of feeling less
than you are.
Romans 7 tells us that we’ll fail every time we try to live the Christian life
on our own. In Romans 6 we learned to present ourselves to God and trust
Him to live the Christian life through us. When we don’t do that, we feel its
sobering effect.
The apostle Paul said he failed at the Christian life. It didn’t wreck his salvation,
but he wasn’t happy and had no joy or power in his life. In Romans 7, he shares
the two systems that failed him and what God taught him about victory.
# 1 N O ON E ME ASUR E S UP TO THE LAW

The first system, the Law, had been keeping Israel in line for 1500 years.
The Law, says Paul, was a list of standards Jews lived by that revealed the
exceeding sinfulness of sin. The Law is an x-ray of your heart. The Law is a
mirror; it reveals what we are, sinners. Nobody measures up. If you have a
dirty spot on your face, the mirror will show it to you, but it can’t remove the
spot. It just condemns you.
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The person who uses the Law as their guideline for the Christian life just
gets shown their own weakness, inability, and sin. If there had been a law
which could have given life, God would have given it (see Galatians 3:21). But
life and Christian living do not come by the Law. It just keeps giving you a
long list of things to do and demands to be kept, without hands to do them.
The Jew had lived under the Law for generations, but if the new Gentile
believers had to adopt the Law, there was no hope for them. But Paul gives
hope—he says that because Christ died in His body and we are identified with
Christ in His death, now we are dead to the Law and the Law is dead to us.
It’s like a marriage—a wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but
when the husband dies, she is completely released from the relationship. In
other words, if he is dead, she is no longer married to him. If we are dead to
the Law, we no longer have a relationship to it. If Christ has had victory over
the Law, then we are released from its rules.
Today we can serve God not because the Law demands it of us and makes
us think,”I ought to do it.” Now we can serve God because we want to. “I
delight to do this, because I want to please Jesus.” As a believer, you are set
free from the handcuffs of the Law, and in love you can now give yourself to
God and do what pleases Him.
If today you follow a set of rules because you think doing so will make God
pleased with you, you’re setting yourself up for failure. The Law will never
lead to life. If a judge sentenced you to die, you shouldn’t ask him how you
are going to live.
The Law is not given to the new man in Christ—old things have passed away
and all things have become new (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). The believer is not
under Law but under grace. God says so!
The successful Christian life is Jesus living His life through you today. You
can’t do it yourself, nor can we do it by following long sets of rules and the
Law. All the Law does is show you how much you need God.
# 2 T HE STR UG G L E O F TWO NATURES

When Jesus Christ saved you, He gave you a new nature. You are a new
creature in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). But the old nature has been in
control for so long that it often takes over. Your new nature wants to follow
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after God, but your old nature drags its feet. It doesn’t want to serve God,
doesn’t want to pray or worship. It wants what it always has gotten—its
own way.
Here’s a radical thought: You can’t depend on your new nature. Just to say
you want to live for Christ won’t get you anywhere. Your relationship with
God is not a Do-It-Yourself kit.
You need Jesus. You need to turn your life over to the Spirit of God, yield to
Him, and let Him do for you what you can’t do for yourself.
Generations of saints have never understood this and accept defeat as

normal Christian living. They are satisfied to continue on the low level of a
sad, crushed life. God doesn’t want us to arrive in heaven by that route.
Paul becomes very personal in this chapter. He documents his internal

struggle as he tried to live for God in the power of his new nature. He found
it impossible. In essence, he said, “I don’t understand my own actions. I am
baffled and bewildered by them. I don’t do what I want to do, but instead do
the very thing I hate. I’m yielding to my human nature, my worldliness—my
sinful capacity” (v. 15).
What a perfect picture of the conflict between our old nature and our
new nature.
Can you relate? Do you do something, then hate yourself because you’ve
done it? You cry out, “God, oh, I’ve failed You!” Every child of God has had
this experience.
Paul shares his own experience. First he was a proud Pharisee under the
Mosaic Law, kidding himself by doing what he thought would make him
right with God. But the Law was condemning him all the while.
Then Paul met Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road. This proud young
Pharisee turned to Christ as his Savior. But still Paul felt he could live the
Christian life on his own. His new nature said, “Now I’m going to live for
God!” But he struggled and failed for a time.
Then there was the day when Paul didn’t win, but Christ did. Paul learned it
was all about yielding to God and letting the Spirit of God live the Christian
life through him.
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Paul learned two things in this struggle every Christian needs to learn:
First, there’s nothing good in my old nature (v. 18). Have you found that out
yet? Too many times we feel we can do something in our own strength that
will please God. We might get very busy and think God will reward us for our
effort. Yet we’re doing it all by ourselves and have no vital connection with the
Lord. His life is not being lived through us—we’re just trying to fly solo.
Second, God won’t use anything we do in our own strength. He won’t have
it; it’s no good. Have you learned that yet? There’s no good in the old nature,
and there’s no power in the new nature. The new nature wants to serve God,
but your old nature is an enemy to God. We say, “I want to live for God. I
want to do better.” But there’s no power in it. It causes the honest child of
God to cry out, as Paul cried: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver
me from this body of death?” (v. 24).
The word “wretched” speaks of the exhaustion we feel in the struggle. I’ve tried
everything, and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Can anyone help me?
The honest Christian who has tried to follow the Law and who has tried to
do the Christian life in his own strength is helpless. His shoulders are pinned
to the floor—he has been wrestled down. He is calling for help.
And God answers him.
Paul says in effect, “My new life tells me to do right, but the old nature still
inside me loves to sin. Who will help me get free of it? Thank God! Jesus
Christ my Lord will help me. He has set me free.”
This chapter is Paul’s S.O.S. to God, and God delivers him. More detail
of how God does it is in chapter 8, but here’s a hint: Both salvation and
sanctification come through Jesus Christ; He provides everything we need.
NEXT: We’re going to what many call

“the greatest chapter in the Bible.”
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L E SSO N 7
1. If someone like the Apostle Paul failed at the Christian life, what does that
say about us? Where does Paul say we find our victory?
2. Why can’t Christians just live by the Law? What’s our problem?
3. If the Law couldn’t cleanse a person of their sins, then what was
its purpose?
4. Why do you think God doesn’t just write over our old natures when we
come to faith in Jesus?
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5. What does the conflict between the old nature and new nature feel like for
you? How do you feel the tension?
6. We all naturally struggle with sin because we try to overcome it in our own
strength rather than leaning on God’s strength. Why do you think this is?
7. The Christian life is full of joy and peace, but at times we all feel like Paul—
wretched and worthless. Does this make the gospel any less true?
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L E SSO N 8
AL L THAT IS OURS
IN CHR IST
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 8:1-17
In Romans 7 we felt the frustration we have all experienced in living the

Christian life. We can’t do it. What are we going to do? Now here’s the answer.
Romans 8 is the high-water mark in Romans, and many believe it to be

the greatest chapter in the Bible. No other chapter more deeply and fully
describes the hope and tender mercies we have in God’s love. Nor does any
other chapter describe the work of the Trinity on our behalf—the Holy Spirit
working with our spirit, Jesus’ intercession for us, and the unfailing love of
God the Father for His children. All these truths link together to form a great
security for every Christian and the opportunity to experience the life in
God He intends for us. We must come to this study like Moses standing at
the burning bush, with our feet unshod and our heads uncovered, not fully
realizing or recognizing the glory and wonder of it all.
In Romans 7 we saw that our old nature has no good in it and our new
nature has no power. So what’s an exhausted, frustrated, defeated Christian
to do? I’m so tired of trying and failing, who will help me live for God? (7:24).
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That’s where Romans 8 comes in, explaining where the victory comes from—
it’s through the work of God’s Spirit! A life that pleases God must be lived in
His power and not ours. The Holy Spirit’s job is to deliver us from frustration
and failure.
In spite of the defeat Paul experienced in chapter 7 when he struggled

to live a life that pleases God, he didn’t lose his salvation. “There is … no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus …” (v. 1). However, Paul
wasn’t enjoying the Christian life. God wanted him to have joy. But how
could he get it?
Remember we learned how we were once under the authority of “the law of
sin and death”? In our old nature, it controlled us and even as a Christian, it
cut off our fellowship with God.
Only a higher authority and power can put us back in fellowship with God—
only the Holy Spirit, who is the life in our new life in God, can connect us to
the living Christ Jesus. He is the one who sets us free from the law of sin and
from death’s power.
The Law could never make us righteous before God. It couldn’t produce
any good thing in us (it only showed us where we failed). But now, the Holy
Spirit does the impossible. He produces a holy life in our weak and sinful
flesh so we can walk “according to the Spirit” (v. 4). What the Law couldn’t
do, the Holy Spirit can do.
We can live the Christian life when the Holy Spirit empowers us. We don’t
have to lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We’ll never make it that way,
anyway. Think of all the New Year resolutions we make, like “I’m going to do
better,” but do we ever do better? Didn’t we do the same old things this year?
Giving His Spirit to us is God’s way of getting to the root of our sin. First
Jesus was identified with us on the cross, putting death itself to death. God
dealt with sin itself, and now it has been condemned in our bodies—but it’s
still there. Now the Holy Spirit delivers and redeems us from these bodies
(see 1 Corinthians 15:44). Today, He enables you to live the Christian life
right where you live in this sinful world. He gives you the strength to win the
victory. The Holy Spirit produces a life of joyful obedience, which the Law
commanded but could never produce in you. The Holy Spirit furnishes the
power, but the decision to let Him rule is still yours.
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We are never told to fight against the flesh—did you know that? The Holy
Spirit is the one who fights for you. He fights against your old nature for the
mastery of sin over the body. You must let the Holy Spirit deal with the flesh;
you can’t overcome it. You have to turn it over to somebody who can. He
wants to do that for you, and He can!
It’s humiliating but true that even as a child of God, we retain our old nature.
It means defeat and death to live by the flesh. No child of God can be happy
in living for the things of the flesh. If you find yourself living habitually in
the flesh and constantly let it run you, and you don’t sense your new nature
rebuking you, you might not have a new nature. If you are a child of God,
then His Spirit lives in you. As an act of the will, you can yield yourself to His
control and your new nature.
When the Spirit is in control, we love the things of Christ; the fruit of His
Spirit become obvious in us (see Colossians 3:1-2, 12 and Galatians 5). We
can’t do these things just by trying harder. These godly attributes show up
in us only as we let the Spirit of God work in us. The Spirit who indwells
us brings life and peace. He convicts us when we sin, and we go to God,
confess our sin, and let Him wash us clean (see 1 John 1:9). He brings us
peace, the experience of tranquility and well-being about the present and
future. This ongoing relationship with God is because His Spirit lives in us.
Jesus offers us this life full of satisfaction and the exercising of our total
abilities—that’s life at its fullest and best! Many people think they are really
living today, but it is a cheap substitute for the life God wants to provide.
One thing is for sure: If a child of God is living in the flesh, they are not
having fellowship with God. God won’t feel close to us if we are committing
sin and continuing to live like our old selves. That nature is totally depraved,
hopeless. God has no plan to redeem it. He has no program to change the
flesh. Rather He brings in something new: “That which is born of the Spirit
is spirit” (John 3:6). He gives us a new nature. If someone continues living a
sinful lifestyle, they may not be a child of God. We have no standing before
God in ourselves.
To just “hope to do better” misses the whole point, too. If you are in Christ,
you have God’s Spirit, and only when He moves through you can you
accomplish that lifestyle you hear about in His Word. Stop believing in
yourself, and believe instead that the Spirit of God can enable you through
your new nature to live for God—today.
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If you’re discouraged, that means you don’t believe God. He has a purpose, a
plan, and blessing for you. Trust Him and lay hold of life His way. By the way,
nothing you get from God comes from how devoted you are to Him. You
don’t need to dedicate yourself to Him—you need to believe Him. You can’t
do anything, but God can do it all.
In our own strength, we don’t have some secret bent toward God. Our flesh
is at war with Him. We’re not only dead in trespasses and sins but actively
in rebellion against God. Often we’ll even become religious in order to stay
away from the living and true God and the person of Jesus Christ. Anything
the flesh produces is worthless to God. The religious works of church people
done in the lukewarmness of the flesh make Christ sick to His stomach (see
Revelation 3:15-16).
Yet there is deliverance in the Spirit of God. Are you willing to turn it over to
the Holy Spirit and quit trusting your weak, sinful nature? You aren’t in the
flesh anymore, but God’s Spirit really does live in you. The true mark of a
genuine Christian is that the Spirit of God is alive in them and it shows. We
yield ourselves to His Spirit with confidence and tell Him, “I can’t do it, Lord,
but You can do it through me.”
God created us with a body, mind, and spirit. When Adam sinned, his spirit
died to God (Genesis 2:17). After Adam ate that fruit, he physically lived on,
but spiritually he died immediately. Our whole life was turned upside down.
The body—the old nature, the flesh—became dominant, and spiritually we
died. Regeneration means we are turned right side up again; it means you
are born again spiritually, and you have a nature that wants to serve God.
Someday our bodies will be put in a grave, but the Spirit of God guarantees
we will be raised from the dead, because Jesus was raised from the dead (2
Corinthians 5:1-4). At last, the Holy Spirit will deliver us from the “body of
death”—this old nature.
If you are a child of God and you have unconfessed sin in your life, do you
want to go to church? Do you want to read your Bible? Do you want to pray?
Of course you don’t. You are separated from God. Whatever your struggle
is with sin, confess it to Him today, then turn it over to the Holy Spirit. Deal
with it in reality. Only Christ can remove it—that is His business. “Come to Me,
all you who labor and are heavy laden,” Jesus said, “and I will rest you” (see
Matthew 11:28). You will know what it feels like to have sins forgiven.
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N E W R E L ATIO N SHIP WI TH GOD

When you are enjoying your relationship with God as He intended, you relate
with Him differently. First, you sense Him lead you. The Lord is our shepherd,
but He doesn’t drive His sheep; He leads them. Jesus describes how safe the
sheep feel when they follow Him. Because they have a new nature, they hear
His voice. And they love the sound of it, He said (John 10:27).
When you have a new relationship with God, you can also leave your
insecurity behind. You don’t wonder about your spiritual condition anymore.
You don’t doubt whether you are really saved. Instead, you’ve got joy, joy,
joy down in your heart because you know He’s your heavenly Father. The
Spirit of God wells up within you, saying, “Abba, Father.”
Abba is an untranslated Aramaic word; its closest meaning is “My Daddy”—a

heart cry when you’re in trouble. Picture a young child with arms wide,
begging for comfort. The Spirit confirms in your spirit that you have that
kind of access to God; He makes it real. How sweet it is to trust Him, to turn
yourself over to Him.
This sweet Father relationship continues from child, to heir, to joint-heirs

with Christ. We’re in the family. Whatever it is that’s hard for you today, you
can be sure that as a join-heir with Christ He will redeem it someday. When
we look at this trial in eternity, it will seem like a light thing compared to the
“eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17) we will be enjoying with Him.
All this is ours in Christ when the Spirt of God is in control. And there’s even
more to come.
NEXT: We’re going to the mountain peak

next time: Romans 8:28.
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L E SSO N 8
1. What is the remedy for feeling defeated by our old natures?
2. Our old sin nature can’t cause us to lose our salvation, but what negative
effects can it have on us?
3. If the Holy Spirit is the one who fights the old nature, then what is our role?
4. In your own words, what does it mean to have “fellowship with God?”
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5. The Bible describes the relationship of God to His people with the image
of a shepherd and his sheep. What are other images, perhaps more familiar
to you, which could be used to describe the relationship?
6. Insecurity is a natural feeling for any human. How can the gospel take
away our insecurities?
7. What does the image of God as the perfect Father tell you about God?
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L E SSO N 9
AL L T HINGS W ORK
TO G E THE R FOR GOOD
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 8:18-39
Do you see it yet? Like children waiting on tiptoes for the first glimpse
of a parade coming around the corner, we wait eagerly for what God has
planned for the future. There will be a great day when God will fully redeem
His plan for creation and for us. Nothing will compare to the glory. What’s
coming will outshine everything.
Because of the Fall, our whole creation is frustration. It never reached the
perfection God originally intended for it. Our entire physical universe will be
redeemed, from our earth to the furthest star a billion miles beyond Pluto.
That is God’s purpose and plan. We’re trading this old earth for a new one,
a new universe, a new solar system where there’s no sin. No curse of sin will
ever come upon it again. Can you imagine how wonderful that will be?
Creation is like a veiled statue today. But someday we’ll have an unveiling
party when we’ll gather round a work of art like at a museum and all “ooh”
and “ahh” when the covering is lifted … an apokalupsis (a revealing).
We all see it today—creation is winding down. It’s in a state of decay. King

Solomon wrote: All the rivers flow into the sea, but the sea never fills up.
The rivers keep flowing to the same old place, and then start all over and do
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it again (Ecclesiastes 1:7-11). There is a weary round of repetition. Nature waits

for the promised unveiling, too.
When Adam disobeyed God, the physical world also came under the curse
(see Genesis 3:18-19). Go out in the beautiful forest and you’ll stumble on
a tree lying dead, corrupt, rotting. That’s nature. Even our bodies carry its
curse. God is in His heaven, but all is not right with the world. The wind
blowing through the pine trees on a mountainside and the breaking of
the surf on some lonely shore—all nature sings in a minor key, an audible
testimony to what the Bible says.
As God’s children, we share in this groaning in sympathy for how the whole
creation is feeling. But someday, God will fully redeem both creation and
us. And like the first fruits offering, God’s gift of the Spirit to us when we
are saved is His pledge that He will complete the process of salvation in the
future (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 1 John 3:2).
All of that is ahead, but today we groan in our bodies. We hurt and we moan
a little. We even cry. God calls our bodies collapsing tents (2 Corinthians
5:1-5), and we long for the day when we trade it in for the real thing, our true
home, our resurrection bodies.
When will that happen? We will receive our eternal bodies at the Rapture
(Philippians 3:20-21;1 Corinthians 15:44). The judgment seat of Christ will
follow, when we will receive more of our glorious inheritance (1 Peter 1:3-4).
We can believe God for this and hope for the day when we experience
what He has promised. Until then, we patiently endure and persevere
through our present sufferings that in the end, won’t even compare to the
glory that lies ahead for us. This redemption will put everything—even the
suffering—in perspective.
We live by faith, in hope, and in love. Someday hope will pass away, when
God’s promises become a reality. In fact, both faith and hope will pass away
in the glory which shall be revealed in us. Only love abides.
In these days on earth as creation winds down, we don’t know how we

ought to pray for God’s will. The Spirit of God intercedes for us before the
Father with groanings that express deep compassion for us. He groans, too.
Have you gone to God sometimes in prayer when you actually did not know
what to pray? All you could do was just go to Him and say, Father. You could
not ask anything because you didn’t know what to ask for. At times like this,
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the Spirit helps our weakness. Sometimes we go to the Lord and say, “I don’t
know what to ask for. I don’t know what to say. But I’m coming to You as
Your child. And I want Your will done.” And the Spirit of God then will pray
for us according to God’s will. Isn’t that wonderful!?
O UR N E W P UR POSE
If Romans is the greatest book of the Bible, and chapter 8 is the high-water
mark, then Romans 8:28 is the mountain’s peak.
With great confidence, we can be sure God orders all of life’s events so they
result in blessing for His children, the called-ones. God sovereignly directs the
plan and it works for good, according to His perspective and for His purposes.
Many of us have pillowed our heads on Romans 8:28. We rest in our confidence
He is in control and works all things together for our eventual good—even the
groanings. “We know” this—the Spirit makes it real to our hearts.
“For … those who love God” is the fraternity pin of the believer. Love is the
mark (Galatians 5:6; 1 John 4:10-16). This is the only place in Romans where
Paul tells us of the believer’s love for God—other times we read only of
God’s love for us.
If you have trouble believing God loves you, then you will have difficulty
loving God (1 John 4:19; 1 Peter 1:8). Believe God, and your sincere love for
Him will bring joy and brightness into your life.
Romans 8:28 also assures us that it doesn’t make any difference what comes
to you—good things, bad things, dark things, bright things, lovely things,
mean things, easy or hard, happy or sad, prosperity or poverty, health
or sickness, calm or storm, comfort or suffering, life or death—because
whatever comes, God will see to it that it works for good in your life. You
can be sure of that. Hold on to that truth.
God works all things together for good. There are no accidents. As God’s
called-ones, we will look back over our lives someday and say, “All of this
worked out for good.” (Like Job 13:15 and Genesis 50:20.) This kind of faith
in God is confidence He’ll put the pieces together like a puzzle and create a
beautiful picture. Every piece has a place.
Not only that, but God says that during all of this, “I can hold onto you,
because when I started out with you, I not only foreknew you, but I
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predestined you; and when I predestined you, I called you; and when I called
you, I justified you; and when I justified you, I glorified you” (see Romans 8:29,
30). In other words, God says, “When I called you, I knew I could carry you
through to the end. It won’t depend on your performance. It will depend on Me.”
Paul says in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has
begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
This promise that God makes to work everything together is specific to

those “who are the called” ones, and it is “according to God’s purpose.” The
called are those who received God’s invitation and accepted it. God invited
Jews and Gentiles, not because of their religion (Jews) or wisdom (Greeks),
but because of His purpose. To these called, the Cross is God’s dynamite to
salvation. “The called” heard God’s call, and they answered.
There is no place for human pride in this process. It is God’s work, His
wisdom, and His purpose being carried out. Some like to talk about
predestination like their opinion changes anything. But the will of God
comes down out of eternity past like a great steamroller. Don’t think you can
stop it. In fact, you had better get on and ride.
God doesn’t elect anyone to be lost, but He speaks of “the called ones” as
predestined. Predestination means that when God saves you, He’s going
to see you through. Follow this chain of thought: Whom God foreknew,
He predestinated, and whom He predestinated, He called, and whom He
called, He justified, and whom He justified, He glorified (vv. 29-30). In other
words, this amazing section is on the sanctification process we go through
as believers, yet Paul doesn’t even mention being sanctified. Instead, He
concludes: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (v. 31).
How glorious, how wonderful! Why is it true? Well, who can condemn a child
of God? Christ died for us, He is risen again, He is even at the right hand of
God, and He makes intercession for us. Nothing in life is better than that in
this life or in the life to come. He is on your side today. He’s given you Jesus
and, with Him, He is freely giving you all things—everything necessary for
this life and in the life to come.
You can’t lose—because of Him, not because of you. He has already declared
you bankrupt and a failure and a sinner. But He says, “I will see you through all
the way.” God’s elect are justified sinners. God has placed His throne behind
them, so who could ever condemn them? No one. Why? Because Jesus rose
from the dead. (See how it always comes back to the Resurrection?)
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We stand in security and confidence because Jesus Christ did four things:
1. He died for us—He paid for our offenses.
2. He was raised from the dead for our justification.
3. He sits on the right hand of God—the living Christ.
4. And He prays for us. Did you pray for yourself this morning?
You should have. But if you missed it, Jesus didn’t. He prayed for you.
Jesus’ work on our behalf is why nobody can lay any charge against
God’s elect.
You have to wonder, “Could anything backfire here?” No, nothing can
separate us from Jesus Christ’s love. “What about trouble—can that put us
outside God’s reach?” No, Jesus won’t let it. “Distress or anguish?” You may
think God has let you down, but He hasn’t. “Persecution?” Will someone’s
campaign against you separate you from God’s love? Never. “Or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword?” From Paul’s own experience, he knows these
can’t stand in the way of Christ’s love.
If you can think of anything he didn’t name, include those, too. The
conclusion makes it worth it all: “I am persuaded that none of these things
can possibly separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord” (vv. 38, 39). This is God’s glorious salvation. “Yet in all these things we
are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (v. 37).
To be more than a conqueror means to have help from someone who wins
for us. Our victorious life is not our life. It is His life.
Paul’s conclusion, his confidence, now reaches a high crescendo. Nothing

can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
We can know this for sure. Death can’t separate us—in fact, it takes us right
into God’s presence. When many early Christian martyrs were threatened
with death, they said, “Thank you, you will transport me right into the
presence of my Savior.” You can’t hurt people like that.
Life can’t separate us from God’s love, either. Often it is more difficult to
face life than to face death. But life’s temptations, failures, disappointments,
uncertainties, and sufferings will not separate us from God’s love.
Can angels? Do our spiritual enemies, fallen angels, harm us? No.
(See Ephesians 6:12).
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How about our present circumstances or future struggles—will they

separate us?
Or any other created thing (anything else you want to mention)? Absolutely
nothing can separate us from the love of God which is centered in Jesus Christ.
At its heart, salvation is a love story. We love Him because He first loved
us. Nothing can separate us from that. We entered Romans 8 with “no
condemnation;” we end it here with “no separation;” and in between, all
things work together for good.
NEXT: Paul wishes his family knew Jesus …

What’s God doing with the Jews?
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L E SSO N 9
1. What evidence in the world around us illustrates that creation is in decay?
2. What does it tell us about sin that its curse has such a dramatic effect
on nature?
3. Why do you think the process of salvation includes all of creation?
4. How does knowing what God has in store for His children in the future help
us endure suffering today?
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5. If God asked you what He should change in the future new heavens and
new earth, what would you tell Him?
6. Sometimes we forget that God saves all of us, not just our souls. Why do
you think salvation includes a resurrection body?
7. Knowing God is sovereignly in charge and trusting Him with the details
of our lives are two different things. In what areas do you struggle with
your trust?
8. Everything in the world, good and bad, ultimately works out to fulfill God’s
purposes. How should that knowledge change our attitudes?
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9. Paul’s statement that nothing can separate us from God is bold and life
changing. What happens in us when we trust this claim is true?
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L E SSO N 1 0
W HAT ABO U T GOD ’ S

PE OPLE , THE JE WS?
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 9:1-24
Romans 8 closes on the high plane of triumph and joy: Nothing will ever
separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 9 opens on the low plane of despair and sorrow. Obviously,

something about this change of subject brought Paul heartbreak. The once
hardened rabbi who arrested the “followers of the Way” in Damascus in
(Acts 9) now revealed his brokenhearted plea for Israel’s salvation.
In confirming that Israel had rejected the gospel, Paul made it clear that
God’s Word had not failed nor had His promises. Some Jews had indeed
turned to Jesus Christ just as Paul himself had, and that fact along with
God’s promises for Israel in the future comforted him.
Even so, Paul used Old Testament Scripture (and specifically Isaiah) to point
out that the gospel message was for both Jews and Gentiles.
His own people, the Jews, accused Paul of being an enemy. They wouldn’t
even try to understand what prompted his change of message. Since he
had discovered who Jesus really is, his heart had a heaviness and continual
sorrow for them. He understood how they felt toward Jesus Christ and
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toward Christianity, for he once felt the same way. He had once been a
zealous, hardened rabbi intent on arresting rebellious Jews. Now he wants
nothing more than their salvation in Jesus Christ.
He said he wished they could be blessed by the Messiah the way he had
been. They were family—no wonder he felt this way.
At the time of writing, the people of God faced a unique historical position
and problem. Their church was now mostly Gentile, and the Jewish
background has been all but forgotten. Their assumption was that God was
done with the Old Testament and the church is now heir to all its prophecies.
But that’s not true.
We learn in this section of Romans dedicated to hope for Israel (Romans

9-11) that God’s promises to them will still be fulfilled. Not only that, but God
promises the church, an elect people both Jew and Gentile, to form them
into a body (see Acts 15:13-18).
God is calling out a people to His name. When God’s purposes are complete
for the church, He will remove us from the earth and turn again to Israel. But
even then, God won’t be through with Gentiles. All saved Gentiles at that
time will enter the kingdom with Israel, and God’s kingdom will be set up on
this earth.
God does all these things in His own sovereign will. He is in charge and is
moving His kingdom forward through mercy in how He works with Israel and
all others—even us. We explore God’s past dealings with Israel in Romans
9, His present dealing with Israel in Romans 10, and His future dealings with
Israel as a nation in Romans 11.
First, we discover who these people are whom Paul loved. Israel has a long
history with God. They are God’s people, the Jews, and nothing can disturb
or destroy that. If we have been saved, we are chosen in Christ, but not
because of some natural heritage we have. Jesus Christ came from Judaism.
He was an Israelite. God gave a religion to this people. Paul began this
epistle by saying the gospel is “to the Jew first” (1:16), which means that
chronologically the Jew got it first.
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W HO A R E ISR A E LI TES?
“Israelites” means the chosen people of God, whereas “Jews” simply
distinguishes them from Gentiles. Israel is set apart unto God in these
eight ways:
1. In adoption. God called the nation Israel His “son” (Exodus 4:22,
Deuteronomy 7:6, Hosea 11:1). He speaks of the nation—not just an
individual—as His own. He never said that of any other people.
2. In glory. The children of Israel are the only ones ever to have God’s
visible presence with them physically as in the pillar of cloud and fire, in
the tabernacle, and later in the temple.
3. In covenants. God made covenants with the nation Israel He intends to

carry out. He also said He would make them a blessing to all people.
4. In the Law. The Mosaic Law was given to the nation Israel—a sign
between God and the nation that the Lord sets them apart for Himself.
Having this Law from God was a great privilege for Israel and helped
them govern their political, social, and religious lives. It guaranteed
God’s blessing if they obeyed.
5. In God’s service. Israel was a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. In the

future millennial kingdom, the nation Israel will once again be God’s
priests on the earth. The Jewish sacrificial system allowed Israel to have
fellowship with God (now available through Jesus’ indwelling Spirit, our
High Priest).
6. In the promises. The Old Testament is full of promises made to Israel with
a specific one, the land of Israel, given strictly to the Jews. The promises
revealed to the patriarchs God’s guaranteed work for them (8:31).
7. In the fathers. The patriarchs were “the fathers” to whom God gave the
promises before Israel was a nation, specifically Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. In this respect, they correspond to the apostles in the church.
8. Finally, and most important, in Christ the Messiah. Jesus came as a

Jewish baby to the nation Israel as a seed of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16).
Though He was not exclusively theirs (He belonged to the world), He
came first to Israel.
In spite of these unique blessings for Israel, the nation rejected Jesus as
Messiah and failed to carry out God’s purpose—they “failed” (ekpeptoken)
means they “went off course,” like a ship. But regardless of their response,
God will accomplish His purpose. His promises were unconditional.
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Israel saw it differently. Many Jews believed they were God’s chosen, the
elect, and that salvation was simply a matter of birthright. They thought
being a Jew was enough to receive God’s kingdom. They didn’t understand
God’s message through His prophets that He wants a contrite heart, not
entitlement or performance.
They also didn’t understand, even when Paul used Old Testament scripture,
that the gospel was for both Jews and Gentiles. They misunderstood the
Torah and worked very hard to keep a set of rules. Gentiles would never
make it (v. 30). They thought they were right with God and were confused
by Paul’s message of grace through faith and not by works. God chose a
nation as His own, but He only saves individuals who turn to Him (always a
remnant; see 1 Peter 2:9-10).
W HAT IS G O D DO IN G WI TH I SRAEL?
We can’t begin to understand God’s mysterious dealings, but we can trust
Him to act in justice. This is His universe. He is in charge and in control. We
are but little creatures on earth; He could take away our breath in the next
moment. Who has the audacity to question what He does? That would be
rebellion of the worst kind.
God told Moses, “I’m in charge of mercy. I’m in charge of compassion” (see
Romans 9:15). Whatever choice He makes is right.
Moses wanted to see God’s glory. But God said in effect, “I’ll show it to you,
Moses, but not because you are Moses, but because I am God!” Do you know
why God saved you? Because He is God. Is it because we work hard or want
it badly? No. He makes the choice to extend mercy to us. Who are we to
question Him?
Even the great Pharaoh of Egypt was used for God’s purposes. God gave
him multiple opportunities to turn to Him. He could have said, “I won’t let
Israel go.” But God says, “You may think you won’t, but you will because I
will it.” When Exodus 9:12 says God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it means God
forced him to do the thing he wanted to do all along. (By the way, there
never will be a person in hell who did not choose to be there. We make our
own decision.)
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We want to reason out God’s actions. We try to discern the mystery and
majesty of God’s sovereignty. But faith leaves it there and accepts it in
humble obedience. Unbelief rebels against it and continues under the same
wrath and judgment that it questions.
Yield to the fact that God is God, and we are not.
God deals with us in patience and mercy, treating us like little clay pots He
made. He deals with us, not as lifeless clay, but as creatures with a free will.
He gives us ample opportunity to reveal any desire to obey Him. Although
God hates sin, “vessels of wrath” (v. 22) and must judge it in a most final
manner, His mercy is constantly going out to the creatures He made.
When Jesus announced the Jewish nation was going to be destroyed, He

wept over Jerusalem (Luke 23:34). When the final judgment came in A.D.
70, God saved a remnant. These were “vessels of mercy.”
In the future, a remnant of Israel will also be saved in the Great Tribulation
Period (only 144,000 Jews will be sealed—a small ratio). Don’t ask why—it
is God who shows mercy. If He saved only one, it would reveal His mercy,
because none of us deserve it. Only God’s mercy keeps any of us from hell.
Gentiles, without willing or working, found righteousness in Christ because

God worked and God willed it. The Old Testament Scriptures had prophesied
it. But Israel, pursuing a system that was supposed to deliver righteousness,
didn’t get there; the Law couldn’t produce it. Religious people are the most
difficult people to reach with the gospel—because they think they can
achieve it on their own.
You will never be able to reconcile the sovereignty of God and the
responsibility of man. God invites “whoever wants to come to Me” (see Mark
8:34) and “whoever comes to me I will hang on to them” (see John 6:37). “You
are welcome; please come,” He says. Don’t stand on the sidelines and say, “I’m
not elected.” If you want to be saved, you are the elect. If you don’t, you’re
not. God is sovereign, and He is going to do this according to His will. And His
will is right—there is no unrighteousness in Him. He won’t make a mistake.
The Jews stumbled (Isaiah 8:14; 28:16) and the Cross, to the Gentiles, is
foolishness. Only the one who believes, either Jew or Gentile, will be saved.
The natural man will still try to produce salvation by some natural process.
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He will try to reconcile the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man
as if our tiny minds are capable and infallible. The humble mind will come in
simple faith.
Believe in God. He is righteous and good, and He does whatever is right.
NEXT: What’s going to happen to Israel?

Is God done with them?
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L E SSO N 1 0
1. Why do you think God’s promises to Israel comforted Paul as he was
writing a letter to Gentiles?
2. Romans, like many other New Testament books, speaks of God’s people as
a body. What does this image tell us about God’s plans for His people?
3. Israel’s status as the chosen people of God brought them great blessings.
Do you think it made anything harder about trusting Jesus and living the
Christian life?
4. Even though God blessed the Israelites, their ethnicity did nothing to
make them righteous. How should this shape how we think about our own
ethnicity and those around us?
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5. What does it tell us about who God is that He extends mercy to us, not
because of anything deserving on our part, but because He chooses to?
6. In your own words, define mercy. Is God’s mercy different than the mercy
people show to one another?
7. If you were composing a letter to those closest to you, who needed to

know the gospel, what pointers could you take from Paul’s passion for
his countrymen?
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L E SSO N 1 1
W HAT ’S GOING TO
H APPE N TO I SR A EL?
Begin with prayer
Listen at TTB.org/Romans to Romans 9:25—10:6, Romans 10:7—11:10,

Romans 11:11-25, and Romans 11:26—12:1
We are incredibly, incurably addicted to working for our own salvation.

Whatever the reason, we struggle to say to God, “I am not good enough, but
I accept your gift.” Instead, we want to be worthy of it. We want to be right
with God on our own merit. But that never works.
Paul desperately wanted Israel to be saved. They were his family, his kindred.
He wanted them to see they weren’t saved because they were God’s people.
Jews are as lost as any Gentile because religion can’t save you. Even with
a God-given religion, Jews are as far from God as anyone. Just as Gentiles
need to be saved, Jews need to be saved … and God is saving them today. A
small number, perhaps, but more than you think, become convinced of God’s
grace towards them. God’s present plan is that they be saved and brought
into the body of believers, the church (see Ephesians 2:11-22).
Today, the present state of Israel is unable to have peace because peace
comes through Christ who is the end of the law of righteousness.
Now Paul turns from God’s sovereignty to our responsibility.
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• You can be religious and lost. Israel had religion but not righteousness.
They had more from God than any other nation, but they were lost.
They can be saved, but now they’re on the same plane before God
today as Gentiles. We should share the gospel with them as much as
anyone else without Christ. The ground at the foot of the cross is level.
Without Christ, we all are hell-doomed sinners, but God is ready to
show mercy today. He doesn’t love someone because of who they are,
but because of who He is.
• You might have zeal but not knowledge. Often our addiction to self-
sufficiency and self-righteousness begins with ignorance. Paul said
we have zeal but not knowledge. We want to do what’s right, but we
don’t understand what God says in His Word. The Jews didn’t correctly
understand the Torah, God’s revealed will in Scripture, and it caused
them to reject Jesus as Messiah. Paul repeatedly quoted the Old
Testament (and specifically Isaiah) in this letter to the Romans, more
often than any other letter. He wanted to paint the bigger picture—for
the Jews to see how their own Law and the prophets pointed to a
Messiah who would save anyone in the world. He also wanted the Gentile
to see that God’s plan still included Israel. A promise is a promise.
The Jews believed the Law God gave to Moses. But that Law was
meant to lead us to Christ, not save us (see Galatians 3:24). It shows
us we need to be saved. It takes us by the hand and brings us to the
cross of Christ. The Law came to an end in Christ. If you could live an
excellent life under the Law, it would be by your own righteousness, not
God’s righteousness. Your very best could never measure up to His.
• Our mouths and our hearts must agree. What we say and what we
believe should be the same. You believe with your heart (your total
personality, your entire being). Some just give lip service to God—but
their hearts are far from Him. If you confess Jesus Christ without faith,
you are either deceiving yourself or you’re a hypocrite. If you have faith
but don’t confess it, you may be a coward. If you are going to work
your mouth, be sure you have faith in your heart.
Both Jews and Gentiles have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
If anyone wants to be saved, they must come the same way to Christ. The
Lord Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John
14:6). Not by Old Testament ritual or by the Mosaic Law. Salvation is offered
to all people on the same basis of mercy—by faith. Hear and believe the
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gospel. “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (10:13).
Jews and Gentiles are to “call on the name of the Lord,” meaning to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is always and only by faith.
Tucked away in the Old Testament prophets is this from Joel 2:32, “Whoever
calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in
Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the
remnant whom the Lord calls.”
Paul began this letter saying he was a called apostle of Jesus Christ (1:1).
There follows a logical sequence. Preachers must be sent in order for people
to hear, so that they might believe—or else they wouldn’t know how to call
upon God. Paul pinpoints all on believing. “So then faith [believing] comes
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (10:17).
Faith doesn’t come by preaching philosophy or psychology or some political

plan; it comes by preaching the Word of God. Until you hear the Word of
God, you cannot be saved.
W H AT A B O UT ISR A E L’S FUTURE?

W HAT A B O UT G O D’ S PROMI SES?
Does this mean, then, that God is so fed up with Israel that He’ll have
nothing more to do with them? Hardly. Paul reminds them he is an Israelite,
a descendant of Abraham, out of the tribe of Benjamin. He presents himself
as proof that God will save.
God has not cast away Israel as a nation. God always has a remnant in Israel.
That remnant today is made up of those Jews who believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is why Paul says later that “all Israel is not Israel” (9:6-7).
Grace and works are two opposite systems. Those Jews who come to Jesus
believe He is their Messiah and are not saved because of their works. They
are saved by grace through faith.
What will happen to those who do not believe Jesus is their Messiah? The
remainder of Israel is hardened. They are hardened because they fail; they
do not fail because they are hardened. They weren’t blinded. They have
been exposed to the gospel as no other people have been exposed to it.
Israel has had plenty of opportunities to listen and respond to God. He has
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been patient with them. Now they are blinded because they would not
accept the light He gave them. They rejected God’s offer and became the
most difficult to reach with the grace of God.
God gives light in order that people might see, but if they are blind, they will
not see. Today, the light reveals the blindness of millions. Many intelligent
people can’t seem to understand what the Bible is all about. They are blind.
G O D ’ S FUTUR E P UR P OSE WI TH I SRAEL

But wait a minute. Does Israel’s rejection destroy God’s plan for the future?
No. As soon as God completes His plan for the church—of calling out both
Jews and Gentiles to be a people to His name and taking the church out of the
earth—He will return again to the nation Israel and begin to deal with them.
Their rejection now has prompted God to open the gates of salvation wide
to the Gentiles. The Jews are watching the reality of their salvation now
given to the Gentiles. What they thought only could come to the Jews, God
is now blessing the Gentiles.
God has set the Jews aside. He’s not dealing with them as a nation right
now. When God does deal with them, the Arab-Israeli conflict will be a thing
of the past. Never again will Israel live in fear, because God will make sure
they live in peace and tranquility (Micah 4:4). God keeps all His promises. He
will resume His relationship with Jews and will bless them. They will be His
people and He will be their God. God’s gifts and God’s call are guaranteed—
never canceled, never taken back.
But what will happen now to the Gentiles? Will God forget us when the Jews
come back in the picture? Never. God’s grace toward the Gentiles will be
multiplied (Acts 15:16-17).
What does Paul think about all this? God called him to be an apostle to the
Gentiles, and he accepted that. But as he preached to the Gentiles, he hoped
it would move his own people to turn to Christ too. Some did turn to Jesus
as their Messiah, Savior. Only a few—but some. In all of this Paul fulfilled his
ministry, and God was accomplishing His purpose in this age with both Jew
and Gentile.
As hard as it was to focus on Gentiles instead of his own people, Paul

understood the satisfaction of doing what God called him to do. God has a
place for all of His children to serve. He might want you on the front lines or
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He may want you to support another who is getting out the Word of God.
Whatever it is, you will experience great satisfaction in doing what you are
confident God has called you to do.
Today, the church benefits because of the nation Israel. We owe them so
much. They were set aside because of their unbelief. We now stand on faith
in Jesus Christ alone. This grace brought us into the family of God and has
given us privileges and blessing. Let’s not trifle with the grace of God.
Since God accepts Gentiles who have no merit on which to be saved, surely
God can restore Israel who likewise has no merit. (None of us deserve God’s
grace.) Israel will turn to God again (see Jeremiah 23:3-8; Zechariah 12:10).
Paul is writing this letter to Gentile believers who mostly made up the
church in Rome. By this time, many Gentiles have come to faith in Jesus
Christ. Paul says there was a day when Gentiles didn’t believe, but now a
remnant of Gentiles have obtained mercy (11:31). As a nation, Israel formerly
believed, but now doesn’t believe. God saves both Jew and Gentile by
mercy. Just as God showed mercy to the Gentiles, He will show mercy to
the nation Israel. Because of this, remember by grace we are saved, through
faith, and that not of ourselves. It is the gift of God; not of works, lest any of
us should boast (see Ephesians 2:8-9).
The child of God has a glorious future ahead. From man’s point of view
today, the future has gotten dark. The world is in quite a mess. But God is on
the throne, and He is going to straighten it out. Our greatest days are ahead.
NEXT: Present your whole self to God.

Explore God at the center of your relationships.
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L E SSO N 1 1
1. Why do you think we find it so tempting to try to work for our salvation?
2. What is the difference between religion and righteousness?
3. The Jews had the Old Testament, and they had religious leaders and
experts who dedicated their entire lives to reading, understanding, and
interpreting the Law. Yet, when Jesus—the Law-giver—showed up, they
completely missed that He was the one the Scriptures pointed to. How
should that challenge us in our own Bible study?
4. How do our mouths give evidence of what is in our hearts?
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5. Paul describes unbelievers as spiritually blind. How should that description

influence the way we think about the world we live in?
6. How should we be encouraged to see God’s faithfulness to an

unbelieving Israel?
7. What advice do you think Paul would give us today when it comes to
compassion for those who may view us as enemies?
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L E SSO N 1 2
HOW S HOULD
I THE N LI VE?
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 12—13
Listen at TTB.org/Romans to Romans 12:1-11, Romans 12:12—13:1,

and Romans 13
If Romans 1-8 describes the faith in which we now stand and Romans 9-11
gives Israel hope for the future, then Romans 12-16 pictures what love
looks like in a Christian’s life. We study now what a Christian does with the
salvation God has given to us.
Romans 12-16 guides us through our practical responsibility. Considering all

God has done for us, this is our “reasonable service” (12:1).
A Christian’s spiritual responsibility is to present himself to God as a living

sacrifice. A child of God can’t live to himself. If you have been redeemed by
the blood of Christ, God has a claim on your life. If you live selfishly, you’ll
just be miserable. You can’t live the Christian life until you present your total
personality to God.
We learned earlier in our study about sanctification (Romans 5-8) related to

our Christian character—what was going on in the inner man. Now we see
that applied to our Christian conduct, our outer man. Who we are vs. what
we do. What happened in us and how it gets into our daily activity. God
created us to be relational beings, and so we’ll explore our connection to
God Himself, His Spirit, other Christians, people who don’t yet know Him, our
neighbors, and government.
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YOUR R E LATIO N SHIP TO GOD

Because you are now rich in God’s tender compassion, yield your whole
person as a living sacrifice to Him. Your mind, your affections, your will—His
Spirit can use your whole self. This isn’t asking too much but is your rational,
spiritual service and one way God said He would be pleased. (See also 1
Corinthians 6:20; 2 Corinthians 4:10.) When you yield to God, you choose to
put yourself at His service.
You can put your service to the test by changing your outward expression to
reflect your true heart. Live what you believe. Don’t frame your life by those
around you, not even by the church, but instead live out God’s good and
acceptable will for your life.
When God’s Spirit is working from within, your life is genuine and true (see 2
Corinthians 3:18; Titus 3:5). The minute you pretend to be something you’re
not, you give up your discernment of God’s will in your life. But when you
yield to His Spirit, God’s will shapes your life perfectly. You won’t have to
act like a Christian, but just naturally let God’s Spirit move and work through
you. Paul begs us to do this. It’s the only way to a life of joy and fullness. Oh,
to be a normal Christian and enjoy God’s blessing!
YO U R R E L ATIO N SHIP TO GOD’S SPI RI T

Be on your guard. Considering the grace God gives you, it’s easy to start
thinking too much of yourself and overestimate your ability, character, and
gifts. Instead, be humble. Think wisely of yourself, even as God has divided a
measure of faith to each of us.
The only accurate way to understand yourself is by remembering who God

is and what He does for us, not by who we are and what we do for Him. Just
do what He wants you to do.
The church is like a body—with many members doing different things well.
The Spirit gives you “free gift” giftedness. When He saves us, God gives us
the ability to serve His body in a unique way; it’s a living organization. When
you contribute your gift, you confirm His Spirit is alive in you.
There’s a wonderful variety of gifts with which the Spirit equips His
body—hospitality to prophecy, generosity to speaking, giving to teaching,
administration to showing kindness. All are unique and needed within the
body. How do you best serve?
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YOU R R E L ATIO N SHIP TO OTHER CHRI STI ANS

As a family, we experience all kinds of connections with our brothers and
sisters in Christ. Through the Spirit’s power, we’re able to live distinctly godly
lives yet interact and relate with each other. Paul starts us thinking with his
list of ways to relate:
• Love each other the best you know how. Don’t say you love someone
but then talk behind their back. Be sincere and be bold in expressing
your care.
• Hate what is evil. Run away from it or look the other way. Don’t put up
with something that’s against God.
• Hold on to what is good. Be known by how you focus on godly things.
• Be kind and affectionate to each other. Love each other like you’re
blood-family. Give each other the seat of honor.
• Don’t be lazy or burn out. Be eager and enthusiastic to join with each
other in doing good and serving the Lord.
• Rejoice in hope . . . even when the situation doesn’t look hopeful. Don’t
quit, even on a hard day. Look ahead to a new day.
• Be a person who prays.
• Share the necessities of life with others who need it.
• Pursue hospitality—seek out other believers to whom you can be

gracious. Extend fellowship to them.
• Bless those who persecute you.
• Enter into the joys and sorrows of other believers. Go through life with
your Christian brothers and sisters. Be right there with them in the
good times and in hard.
• Together, follow Jesus’ model.
• Make everyone your friend, no matter their status.
• Be humble about who you are, how close you are to God, and what you
contribute to the body.
Through the Spirit’s power, we can do all this in our relationships with others
in God’s family. Next, we learn how to relate to those outside of Christ.
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YOU R R E L ATIO N SHIP TO P E OPLE WHO DON’T

Y E T K N OW JE SUS CHRI ST
We live in a world of unbelievers. How can we related to those who don’t
yet know Jesus?
• First, we should never try to retaliate for any harm they cause us. Don’t
you know that God saw what happened? He won’t permit any injustice
to come to you that He will not straighten out someday. Don’t get off
track in your faith—don’t hit back. When we hit back, we are saying to
God, “I can’t trust You in this particular case. I’m going to have to take
it into my own hands.”
• Turn your problem people over to God. Let Him take over. He does a
much better job than any of us in dealing with evil and injustice. We
should expect evil at the hands of the world. Don’t insist on getting even.
• Don’t be wise in your own opinions. Don’t love the sound of your
own voice.
• Pay your debts. Be truthful and the person upon whom others
can depend.
• When it’s possible, live peaceably with everyone. Sometimes it’s not
possible, but when it is, be the center of the storm.
• Don’t let evil get the best of you. Keep doing good. If you try to fight
the satanic system that rules the world, it might whip you. Hate and
revenge will eat you up, and you’ll lose for sure. Instead, overcome evil
with good. Walk in the power of His Spirit.
YOU R R E LATIO N SHIP TO GOVERNMENT

As a believer, your citizenship is in heaven, but you’re also a citizen in this
world. God appointed government as our authority. We might be inclined to
say, “You wouldn’t say that if you lived in our day with this crowd of crooked
politicians in office.” Oh no? Remember that in Paul’s day bloody Nero was
on the throne in Rome. Paul even appealed his case before him. Despite
these conditions, Paul could say, “Be obedient to government authority, for
they are ordained of God”—whether it’s bloody Nero or whoever is in office
in your town. We’re even supposed to pray for those in authority.
The duty of every believer as a citizen of heaven is spiritual. The duty of a

believer as a citizen under a government is secular—two separate functions.
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Although the kingdoms of this world belong to Satan and injustice and
corruption flourish in all governments, God still has control. He raises up
kings and presidents, and He puts them down. He has not abdicated His
throne; neither is He disturbed about what is happening in politics.
Christianity is not a movement to improve government or to help society

clean up the town. We are to preach a gospel that is the power of God to
bring salvation to anyone who will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The government is to maintain law and order. When it doesn’t do that, it

fails. As Christians, we should respect our rulers who enforce the law. We’re
also to obey the law, not only to avoid judgment, but also to obey our
conscience. For example, we should pay our taxes, although we may not
agree how it’s spent.
A Christian should be the best citizen, although our true citizenship is in heaven.
YOU R R E LATIO N SHIP TO YOUR NEI GHBORS

Our love for our neighbor is best seen in what we do rather than in what we say.
Did you borrow your neighbor’s lawnmower? Take it back. Owe no one
anything, except a debt of love. We show them we love them by fulfilling
God’s law—by not committing adultery, not killing, not stealing, not coveting.
Talk about love all you want, but if you commit these acts against your
neighbor, you don’t love him.
Loving your neighbor is the best way to follow God’s Law. You only have a
capacity to love like this when the Spirit is in control. Love is the fruit of His
Spirit (Galatians 5).
Time is short. You have a small window to share the Lord with your neighbor.
Live as children of light, Paul said. This challenge is like an alarm clock to
waken us up to why we should yield our whole lives to God. Yield all you
are and all you have to Him. This is rational. This is reasonable. This is what
we are supposed to be doing—living like God’s representatives in a lost
generation.
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Look for Jesus Christ’s return, too. It could be any day. This alone will help
you to live a pure life (1 John 3:3). Let’s live for God in our generation! Leave
not a space for worldly living, but make room for God’s presence in your life
every day.
NEXT: What should I do about the grey areas?

Can I? Should I?
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L E SSO N 1 2
1. What is the relationship between character (who we are) and conduct
(what we do)?
2. Everyone struggles to control their world. Is there anything you are not
yielding to God? What is keeping you from giving that to God?
3. Why should humility follow experiencing grace in our lives?
4. How does remembering who God is help us accurately

understand ourselves?
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5. Who are some people you can serve with the gifts the Holy Spirit has
given you?
6. Is there an area of your life in which you need the reminder to overcome
evil with good?
7. Imagine for a moment that you truly loved your neighbor as Christ
commanded. How would you act and think differently? What is stopping
you from doing that now? What can you start doing today?
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L E SSO N 1 3
S HO U LD I
OR S HO U LDN’ T I?
Begin with prayer
Listen at TTB.org/Romans to Romans 14:1-5, Romans 14:5-17,

and Romans 14:17—15:3
Do I belong to Jesus Christ? As a Christian, that question determines

everything. “You were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body
and in your spirit, which are God’s,” 1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us.
Glorifying God takes on new meaning in the details of life. How should I live?
How should I live differently because Jesus has saved me? Paul said he was
“separated to the gospel of God” (1:1).
Earlier in our study we learned that God only sees two classes in the world:
The saints, who have trusted Christ as Savior, and the ain’ts who haven’t.
Saints are set apart for Him. So what does it mean to be “separated”?
Some have made a list of personal commandments to follow—a Christian

doesn’t do this, or that, or the other thing—and think this is how to be
separate from the world. But genuine Christian conduct involves a way of
thinking, with the motivation to please the Lord.
As we saw in Romans 13, the Bible is clear about a Christian’s behavior—to

God, to others, to the government, etc. But what should be our behavior in
questionable matters? How should a Christian live in the grey areas? Paul
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gives us three principles—conviction, conscience, and consideration—to

guide our conduct.
• Conviction about what we do. Conviction means “that which

anticipates.” We really look forward to what we’re going to do. We’re
raising our flag in support.
• Our conscience in the present moment evaluates if something is right

or wrong to do.
• Lastly, we need to consider others. Others are influenced by what we do.
As we explore these guidelines, we should note two extreme viewpoints

about Christian conduct in the grey areas. One extreme position puts up
no wall of separation from the world. They indulge in all kinds of worldly
amusement, go everywhere the world goes, and they spend their time and
energy in activities that have no spiritual profit. They live like they’re not
saved (and maybe they’re not yet).
The second group goes to the extreme in the opposite direction. They
reduce the Christian life to a series of negatives (see Colossians 2:21). They
make their own set of ten commandments—only they double it. They easily
become self-centered, critical, and proud.
Receive this group, Paul says. They’re clueless to know what to do about
questionable matters, too, and over-compensated as a result. Don’t argue
with them, just love them. Believers shouldn’t sit in judgment on each another
about questionable matters of Christian conduct. In things not expressly
forbidden in Scripture, we can’t decide each other’s personal liberty.
Even Paul and Peter wrestled with their own spiritual liberty in the issue of
eating meat. Peter was proud of his commitment to keep a strict Kosher diet
that separated him from the world. But then God turned the tables on him
and said everything was clean to eat (Acts 10:9-16). The apostle Paul, on the
other hand, sat down and ate meat with his new Gentile friends without his
conscience bothering him at all.
We must show each other mercy in these issues. We are not accountable to
each other in these decisions; our judge is the Lord. Maybe you disapprove
of a brother’s conduct in one of these grey areas. Well, he’s not accountable
to you; you are not his master. He is responsible to Jesus Christ, his Master,
for the decisions he makes.
Now let’s explore these three guiding principles for living a separated, joyful
life unto God.
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PR IN C IP LE #1 : CO N V I CTI ON
Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. –Romans 14:5
Conviction means you are “fully persuaded in your own mind.” You only
do the things which you can give yourself to fully and without reserve.
Whatever you do for God, do with enthusiasm!
Questionable amusements are wrong for the believer if they are questionable
to you. If you can participate in them and maintain a close relationship to
Christ, they’re not wrong for you. Our hearts determine our conduct.
As Christians, we can’t live our lives apart from Christ. Whether you live, you
will have to live to Him; whether you die, you will have to die to Him. Our
Christian conduct is not gauged by the foods spread out on the table, but
by our lives spread out before Him. One day we’ll give an account of our
lives—every word, every choice (see 2 Corinthians 5:10).
One reason Christians sometimes struggle with our behavior is because

we haven’t anything in our hearts to take the place of these things we are
told to give up. Often people go from one type of questionable activity to
another. They straddle the fence, trying to go with the world and trying to
go with God. When you live with conviction, be convinced this is what God
is pleased you do.
This is not just negative. We should also be enthusiastic in our conviction

on what is good. If the body of Christ today had real conviction about
going to church, the place would be packed. Conviction motivates our
Christian conduct.
The walk and talk of the believer should please God and meet the approval
of our personal conscience. We should also invest our energy and thinking in
a way that will help us get along with each other. God is at work in each of
our lives, though on His own timetable. Respect what God is doing in other’s
lives. Don’t just think about your freedoms in Christ, think about how your
choices affect others.
“Pursue the things which make for peace …” (14:19). The Christian is to make
a definite effort to avoid doing anything that offends another Christian.
Instead, we are to press toward the mark of spiritual values: Righteousness,
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peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. These things build up fellow believers. You
don’t know how God is working in another’s heart. Don’t get in the way just
to exercise your freedom.
Anything that is questionable and is a matter of conscience for a weak

brother becomes wrong for the strong one.
As we look toward doing something for God, having conviction means we

ask ourselves: Will it be right for me to do this? Can I do it with excitement,
anticipation, and joy?
P R IN C IP LE #2: CO N S CI ENCE
Again, in the grey areas where God’s Word has not spoken, your conscience
evaluates if something is right or wrong to do. This guideline looks back at
what you’ve done.
Happy is the Christian who reviews his life without any qualms of
conscience. (“Maybe I shouldn’t have done that…”) Your conscience helps
you act in a way that is consistent with what you believe. It influences how
you live forward. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe,
then it’s wrong.
If you look back and hate what you’ve done, then that’s your conscience
convicting you. It might have been OK for someone else to have done the
same thing, but for you, it was wrong. Even if the offense was simply not
living by faith—that’s sin for the believer. As our conscience listens to the
Holy Spirit teach us about the grey areas, we learn what it means to be
saved by faith and to walk by faith.
PR I N C IP L E #3: CO N SIDERATI ON
Be thoughtful of others—it’s that simple. Maybe you have a conviction about
this or that and you can do it without losing fellowship with the Lord, and
maybe your conscience doesn’t condemn you for doing it. But how might it
affect someone else?
Take the other person into consideration. We will give account on how
we lived in front of those who are spiritually weaker. They watch how we
live and sometimes don’t understand our conduct. They struggle with the
freedoms we have in Christ. They may not know how to put a grey area
in the context of the Christian life. Often in their weakness, they over-
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compensate and demand black and white, right and wrong categories for
Christian conduct. In these cases, we need to use our liberty but not abuse
it. We don’t have to agree with them to honor their choices. Jesus was
willing to die for that weak brother, and we certainly ought to be willing to
refrain from doing something that would hurt him in his Christian walk.
As a Christian your goal is to please the Lord, not yourself. It is not a

question today of whether it’s right or wrong—that is not the standard of the
Christian anymore. The real issue is, are you walking in the light. “But if we
walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses [keeps on cleansing] us from
all sin” (1 John 1:7).
It is not how you walk, it is where you walk that counts. It is not to see how
far you can go in doing questionable things and still maintain a Christian
testimony. To live like this is only to know a shabby, shoddy Christian life.
But when you walk in the light, you show others the way to Jesus.
NEXT: So does the gospel work?

Find out how it makes a difference in our lives today.
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L E SSO N 1 3
1. If being separated for God doesn’t mean following a list of
commandments, what does it mean?
2. Describe one way our consideration for others should guide our conduct.
Share an example.
3. How should Christians react to fellow Christians who disagree on matters

not expressly forbidden in Scripture?
4. What purpose does being “fully convinced” in your own mind about
something serve when it comes to how we live?
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5. Could two believers be led in two different directions by their consciences?

What does your answer say about what it means to be part of God’s family?
6. How would you explain the difference between using and abusing freedom?
7. If you were God, would you have given people freedom or a strict list of
rules to follow? Why?
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L E SSO N 1 4
T HE HOPE OF
T HE GO S PEL
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 15
So does it work? We’ve given our full attention to Paul’s letter to the
Romans and are understanding the beautiful offer of salvation and how to
live the Christian life. Every Christian should make an effort to know Romans,
for this book will ground you in the faith.
As he nears the end of his letter, Paul now focuses on the two groups reading
it: Jews and Gentiles. Will you come together in one body to glorify God?
This is a practical side of Christianity and the church in the first century. Paul
gave us wonderful doctrine, now he’s putting it into practice.
To the Gentiles he says, The Word of God we’re reading (the Old Testament
to them) is written for you, too (15:4). The Old Testament has a definite
application to believers today. It was written for “our learning.” God wants
you to know His Word. Ignorance of the Bible is the greatest sin of the
hour—in and out of the church. Some of the things in God’s Word aren’t very
nice—but God paints mankind exactly as he is for our learning.
How does knowledge of the Bible help you? The Word of God brings
patience, comfort, and hope. You won’t find any hope in the newspaper or
online. You won’t find hope in modern literature. Look at any media for hope
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and you’ll be hard-pressed to find it in this dark and dismal world. The only
place you can find real hope is in the Word of God.
God’s Word also channels blessing to the body of Christ when we are united
in it. The Jews and Gentiles aren’t going to see eye to eye—but together
in God’s Word they demonstrate their unity in love and consideration of
one another. How? Because we yield ourselves to “the God of patience and
comfort …” (v. 5)
And just as God receives us by our simple acceptance of Jesus Christ, now
let both the strong and the weak receive each other in fellowship. Giving
God His due glory is the ultimate goal for both the Jews and the Gentiles.
They were once one voice on their own, and now they are singing God’s
praise together. This fulfills four unique promises from the Old Testament
that tell us someday Gentiles will praise God (Psalm 18:49, Deuteronomy
32:43, Psalm 117:1, and Isaiah 11:10). Obviously God always intended that
Gentiles will come to know Jesus Christ as Savior. What a comfort that must
have been to the mostly Gentile audience originally reading this letter.
Paul finishes the teaching section of his letter with this beautiful benediction:
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. –v. 13
For the first time in the Bible we have a new name for God—He is “the God
of hope.” The believing heart finds here the Rock of Ages who is the shelter
in the time of storm. “The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing.” This is what a study of Romans can do for you. It can bring you
joy and peace. May it also strengthen your faith and bring hope and power
into your life.
As he closes his letter, Paul sends some personal notes to the Christians
in Rome. “I hope I can come see you soon,” he writes. Paul, who spoke so
boldly and bluntly about the important issues of sin and salvation, now
spoke warmly to his friends.
What Paul wrote in this letter is meant for their good. He describes himself
as a minister of the gospel in the language sounding like Levitical temple
worship. They are acceptable, Paul writes, apart from the Law or any
religion—because of their relationship to Jesus Christ. Beginning with
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Cornelius, the first Gentile believer (Acts 10), the life-giving work of the
Holy Spirit begins the moment of regeneration when the Spirit of God
takes up His home within the believer. Paul may have given them the
gospel, but God gave them the Holy Spirit when they believed.
Paul knew these saints in Rome probably didn’t need his instructions, but
he was grateful for the opportunity to write them about our wonderful
salvation. He was just God’s servant, doing His will, he said. Paul could only
speak about the things Jesus asked of him. He didn’t take the credit for
God’s work others were doing among the Gentiles. He wasn’t there on that
Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. And Peter was the one who took the gospel
to Cornelius.
Paul only preached the gospel where Jesus Christ’s name was not yet known
so that “those who have not heard shall understand” (v. 21). Quoting Isaiah
52:15, this could be Paul’s life verse as a missionary. He was a pioneer, not in
competition with anyone else’s ministry, but an evangelist—a true missionary
to those who hadn’t yet heard about Jesus.
Since Paul said he didn’t go where the gospel had been preached before,
who founded the church in Rome? He makes it clear, both in his introduction
and now, that God used him to found the church in Rome. No one else had
traveled there with the gospel.
Paul had traveled from one end of the Roman Empire and now wanted to
go to new territory. Rome wasn’t his final destination. His eyes were on the
frontier of the empire—Spain. And though we don’t have any details of his
travels west of Rome, when he came to the end of his life, Paul said, “I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2
Timothy 4:7). So maybe he did get there.
Paul wrote this letter from Corinth and was intent on traveling back to
Jerusalem before coming to visit them in Rome. He wanted to deliver with
his own hands the love offering collected from Asia Minor churches for the
Jerusalem church. Why? Because with his own hands he had “wasted” the
church at Jerusalem; he had led in the persecution of believers there. With
a compassionate heart, Paul wanted to take them this “certain contribution”
(v. 26), translated koinonia, meaning “a fellowship.” Fellowship is anything
believers could share: Christ, the Word, prayer, the Lord’s Supper, and
financial gifts. Christians express their fellowship in Christ with one another
when they give.
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The offering Paul collected were gifts from churches who were grateful for
the Jerusalem church. The gospel began in Jerusalem, and now these saints
were suffering financially because of persecution. This is global missions in
reverse! The missionary church now helps the home church.
This trip back to Jerusalem put Paul into the hands of his enemies, the
Jewish religious rulers who had him arrested years before. By God’s will,
Paul will face danger and crisis in his ministry. He had good reason to be
frightened about going back. But he asks for prayer “through the Lord Jesus
Christ” (v. 30). Everything that was to come to him had to come through
Jesus Christ. He asked the believers in Rome to intercede for him before the
Lord with the love of the Spirit, which joins all believers together. Today, let’s
pray for each other like that.
Paul’s prayer request is twofold: Please pray my life will be delivered from
my enemies. And pray the church in Jerusalem will accept this love gift
from Gentiles.
Both Paul’s requests were answered, but perhaps not as we would have
designed. Paul was arrested but immediately placed in Roman custody—
outside his enemy’s grip. During his imprisonment, Paul will preach the
gospel to kings, and eventually to Caesar in Rome—all fulfilling God’s will
for Paul’s life. Paul eventually made it to Rome, after two years in a jail at
Caesarea. He suffered through a shipwreck on the way, and arrived in Rome
in chains. (See Acts 27-28 for the great story.) In spite of prison and chains
and storm and shipwreck, Paul experienced “the God of peace” (v. 33).
May you, too, have that same kind of peace in your life as you walk with Jesus
Christ in the power of His Spirit and invite Him to strengthen your faith.
NEXT: We’ll give Paul and Romans a proper send-off.
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L E SSO N 1 4
1. What is the relationship of knowledge to hope?
2. What lessons can we learn from the struggles for unity experienced by the
first Jew and Gentile believers? What struggles do we see in the body of
Christ today?
3. In Romans 15, Paul says God is a “God of patience and comfort.” How
important are those two qualities in how He deals with us?
4. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross makes us acceptable to God. What does this
tell us about who we were without Jesus?
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5. Imagine you had the opportunity to ask Paul why he was so passionate
about taking the gospel to those who had never heard before. What do
you think his answer would be?
6. Paul’s hands, the hands that had attempted to destroy the Jerusalem
church, later delivered a love offering for the Jerusalem church. What does
that tell us about those who don’t believe in Christ and the power of God?
7. God answered Paul’s prayers, but probably not in the way Paul anticipated.
Are there times this has happened to you? What did you learn from God’s
answer to your prayer?
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L E SSO N 1 5
LOVE ,
PAU L
Begin with prayer
Read Romans 16
Listen at TTB.org/Romans to Romans 15:25—16:2 and Romans 16
In this final chapter of Romans, the gospel walks in shoe leather down the
roads of the first century Roman Empire. In that dark and pagan place,
witnesses for Jesus Christ traveled the streets of those cities with the joy of
the Lord in their hearts.
Paul has left the mountain peaks of doctrine to come down to the
pavements of Rome. Here we see Christianity in action in the Roman Empire
under the rule of bloody Nero. The great doctrines Paul proclaimed are not
missiles from outer space. They are vehicles which actually drove down
Roman roads. The gospel was translated into life and reality.
In Romans 16 we meet a group of people in Rome who knew Paul; he likely

introduced them to the Lord when they both were in Ephesus or Corinth or
Philippi, or somewhere else along Paul’s journeys. Now they lived in Rome
and met together in the name of the Lord Jesus whom they all loved, thanks
to their beloved pastor, Paul. He founded the church, not by going there in
person, but by remote control—you might say by spiritual radar.
Paul closes his masterful letter to that Roman church by mentioning 35

people by name. These people, living in a culture far removed from God,
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discovered this gospel to be true, and they lifted high the name of Jesus
Christ in their generation.
Many jump over this last chapter, thinking it includes only incidentals. But it
is by far the most extensive, intimate, and specific of all of Paul’s greetings in
any of his letters. He pours his heart out for the saints he loved.
The gospel to the Romans not only worked in this first century, but it worked
in the second and the third, and continues to work this year. Christians
today, like those in the first century, walk the streets of a pagan world. Those
who know Jesus Christ and are walking in the light as He is in the light have
found out these things in Romans are true.
The question is, have you found out they are true? This isn’t just theory
or ideas. You can know for sure whether these things are true or not. The
Lord Jesus said if you will do His will, you will know His truth, you will know
whether it’s true or not (see John 7:17). Like the psalmist says, “Oh, taste
and see that the Lord is good …” (Psalm 34:8). God wants you to do the
experiment. It all begins at the cross, in a transaction with Him—it all begins
when you come to Christ as your Savior.
One of the ways the people of Rome recognized followers of Jesus was by their
love for each other. This contradicted Roman philosophy and practice. Now let’s
meet these people whom Paul names with love and tender affection.
First there was Phoebe, who carried the letter to Rome from Corinth. As
her name suggests, Phoebe is a Gentile, named after a Greek goddess.
Apparently she held a prominent role in the early church, and was a gifted
servant of God. The church always needs a woman’s insights and sensibilities.
Paul then greets many other brothers and sisters in Christ.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila, the Jewish couple Paul knew from Ephesus. They
were fellow tentmakers with Paul and had been very helpful to Apollos
when the gospel was newly taught. They opened their home to the church.
Through the third century, the local church only met in private homes; the
church was never intended to mean a building (see Acts 12:12; 1 Corinthians
16:19; Colossians 4:15; Philemon 1:2). Here in the beginning, the church began
in the home and in the future, the church will return to meeting in homes.
Please greet Epaenetus—meaning “praised”—who was first one to come to

Jesus Christ in Achaia.
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Mary (or Miriam) has been working hard for the sake of other believers.
Salute Andronicus, a Greek identified with a slave, and Junia, a Roman. Paul
calls these “my countrymen,” which may mean they belonged to the tribe
of Benjamin like Paul. He also called them “my fellow prisoners.” Evidently
Paul met them in one of the many prisons of the Roman Empire. They were
Christians before Paul.
The church in Rome was founded by Paul under unusual circumstances.

He had met Aquila and Priscilla in the Corinthian agora, the marketplace,
and then he met these two men in jail. These had then gone to Rome and
formed the church there.
A common slave’s name, Amplias, occurs in the tombs of the early Christians
in the catacombs, always in a place of honor. He evidently followed Jesus
Christ because of Paul and was dear to Paul’s heart.
Urbanus means “city bred.” Also a common slave name, Urbanus may have
been brought up in the city rather than in the country. Paul calls him a real
worker among the saints.
Stachys has been found listed in the royal household. He was loved not only
by Paul but by the church.
Apelles is “the approved one.” He had stood some outstanding test.
Aristobulus could have been the grandson of Herod the Great or possibly a
slave who took the name of his master, same as Herodion.
Narcissus is the name of a well-known freed slave Agrippina put to death.

The Narcissus was probably a slave who formerly belonged to him and had
taken his name.
Tryphena and Tryphosa are sweet sounding names that mean “delicate” and
“dainty.” These ladies, perhaps sisters, labored in the Lord—they were real
workers in the church.
The beloved Persis is another woman who worked hard for the Lord. She
likely was a freed slave.
Although Rufus seems to stand in the shadows in this chapter, we actually

know a lot about him, even the color of his hair—red! However, it wasn’t his
hair that made him unusual but the phrase, “chosen [or distinguished] in the
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Lord.” He was a great saint of God. We can put together Rufus’ backstory
from Mark’s Gospel, which was written primarily for the Romans. In giving
his account of the crucifixion, Mark describes how a man pulled from the
crowd named Simon, a Cyrenian, was forced to carry Jesus’ cross—an act
that made him legendary. Mark identifies Simon by adding, “the father of
Alexander and Rufus”—all the saints in Rome would know Rufus, because he
was one of their church leaders.
Notice that Paul’s greeting also includes Rufus’ mother, “his mother and
mine.” We know nothing about Paul’s parents but learn here that a godly
woman in Jerusalem, the wife of Simon the Cyrenian, was like a mother
to the apostle Paul. When Paul first came to Jerusalem following his
conversion, the Christians feared him. They doubted his salvation and
suspected trickery. Yet Rufus’ mother took Paul in. Looking back to that
time, Paul writes concerning her, “She is Rufus’ mother, but she is mine also.”
What a lovely tribute to this warmhearted Christian mother.
Paul then greets many more who are just names to us, but Paul knew each
of them and their stories. He likely had led them all to Christ.
Paul was concerned for the Romans not to engage with false teachers.
Some may have even wedged their way into the church. They were
dangerous. Paul was sure the Romans could handle this threat because
they had a reputation for being wise. “Be wise in what is good” means they
must rely on the instruction of God’s Word. And be “simple concerning
evil” means without a mixture of evil (v. 19). Satan is behind it, of course,
but soon the God of peace will put down Satan (see Genesis 3:15). Until
then, resist the devil and be sober and alert.
As Paul wrote the book of Romans from Corinth, he sends greetings from
Christians there with him. Hello from Timothy and Tertius (Paul’s secretary
who wrote down the letters Paul dictated). Paul was staying in Gaius’ home,
who said hello, too.
Now as Paul closes his letter to the Romans, he gives full attention to the
glory of God. In this beautiful benediction, he chose every word carefully. He
wanted to direct our focus to God and His Spirit who alone can transform us
to look like His Son:
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel

and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation
of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made
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THRU the BIBLE
manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all

nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for
obedience to the faith—to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus
Christ forever. Amen. –vv. 25-27
What a privilege, Paul wrote, to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, now
unveiled in Jesus Christ. The gospel has always been God’s plan—you can
trace it all the way back to Moses. But the partial message entrusted to the
Jews now has been fully revealed and made available to everyone—of any
race, nation, language, culture, or generation.
We’ve come full circle. In the first chapter when Paul first mentioned the
gospel, he said, “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as
it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (1:17).
And now we’ve seen through this book what that means. As we close, let’s
encourage each other to live in “obedience to this faith” to the glory of the
only wise God, through Jesus Christ, amen.
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THRU the BIBLE
L E SSO N 1 5
1. What can the long list of names at the end of Romans teach us about
living in a culture that may be hostile to the gospel?
2. Has there ever been a time in your life where you experienced the truth of
the gospel for yourself?
3. The primary characteristic of the Christian is to be love. How can the Holy
Spirit help you in this area?
4. What does it tell us that the first person Paul mentions by name is a
woman named after a Greek goddess?
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5. Does it surprise you that Aquila and Priscilla weren’t mentioned for
teaching or preaching, but rather for hosting the church in their home?
Why or why not?
6. One of the roles of wisdom is to protect us from false teaching. Imagine

you could go back to the Roman church and give them pointers for wisely
dealing with false teachers. What would you tell them?
7. Our obedience to the gospel brings glory to God. Why would Paul want to
end his letter talking about this topic?
108
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THRU the BIBLE

This Bible Companion is a summary of Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s teaching of

If you want to listen to Dr. McGee’s complete teaching on any

After every lesson, several questions are listed for your

Let the word of Christ dwell in you

LESSON 1 WHAT MAKES SALVATION GREAT......................................1

LESSON 2 HOW BAD IS IT?...............................................................8

LESSON 3 THE ONLY VERDICT...................................................... 14

LESSON 4 HOW TO STAND BEFORE GOD . . .................................22

LESSON 5 BLESSINGS FROM OUR FATHER............................... 28

LESSON 6 YOU STAND IN GRACE................................................ 34

LESSON 7 WHY DO I KEEP DOING THAT?................................. 42

LESSON 8 ALL THAT IS OURS IN CHRIST................................... 48

LESSON 9 ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD.......... 55

LESSON 10 WHAT ABOUT GOD’S PEOPLE, THE JEWS?........... 65

LESSON 11 WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN TO ISRAEL?................73

LESSON 12 HOW SHOULD I THEN LIVE?...................................... 80

LESSON 13 SHOULD I OR SHOULDN’T I?..................................... 88

LESSON 14 THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL....................................... 96

LESSON 15 LOVE, PAUL................................................................... 102

Begin with prayer

Read Romans 1:1-13

Listen at TTB.org/Romans to Romans Introduction, Romans 1:1-4,

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of

Paul identified himself to the Romans in the very beginning as a slave, or

Jesus is also the seed of David, in His humanity. He is virgin-born because

Paul is praying for a “prosperous journey” (v. 10 kjv) to come to them in

On his missionary journeys, Paul visited Roman colonies, such as Philippi

NEXT: Your two options to know more about God.

2. Romans teaches us that the gospel is both an act and a process.

3. Explain what it means to be saved by Jesus. Careful not to use “Christian”

5. Why is Jesus’ resurrection so important to what we believe?

6. According to Romans, what does it take to become a saint?

Begin with prayer

Read Romans 1:14-32

Listen at TTB.org/Romans to Romans 1:14-20 and Romans 1:21-32

Let’s get to know this man, Paul.

“I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians …” (v. 14). The world is

Even if we don’t admit it, we have an instinctual knowledge of God. To deny

Mankind is not getting any better, contrary to what evolutionists say.

Even though mankind knew God:

• ”Nor were thankful.” Ingratitude pervades our thinking and

• “Became futile [vain] in their thoughts.” We even concocted a theory of

• “Their foolish hearts were darkened.” We moved into the darkness of

• “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” The wisdom of man is

Mankind’s downward spiral can be specifically measured by our perversion of

Stay with us.

NEXT: Would God ever ask me to pay for my own salvation?

2. What are some of the benefits of faith in Jesus Christ?

4. Does Romans portray a world getting better or worse? How does it

6. How should we expect the world around us to react when we live as

Begin with prayer

Read Romans 2:1—3:20

Listen at TTB.org/Romans to Romans 2:1-22, Romans 2:21—3:9,

In Romans 1, we see how desperately people need a Savior. They need

This thought can be applied to our church ceremonies. Water baptism is

Some may ask, “Well, doesn’t my church, my creed, my membership, my

The second charge is this: No one seeks after God (3:11).

Had enough of the bad news?

Stay with us.

NEXT: When will God not save you?

3. If the primary purpose of water baptism is as a symbol, what does

4. What does God’s faithfulness, in spite of Israel’s unfaithfulness, teach us